XCOM- Humanity Rising
by Vantage77
Summary: The Elders wanted a poster unit, something to show humanity they could be trusted, and so the 77th Human Volunteer Group was born. Now however the Elders, ADVENT, and XCOM itself will see that the smiling face of this units commander also has fangs. Lookout XCOM you shouldn't poke a sleeping dragon. OCxHarem (female aliens)
1. Chapter 1

**XCOM- Humanity Rising**

 **Chapter 1: Awakening the Dragon**

" **We must find a way to increase volunteer rates."** A rusty voice demanded as its owner confronted his fellows. Many would call the owner an Ethereal one of the leading cast of aliens that had taken up residence on earth. However this individual would be outraged at such a demeaning title, in part because he had transcended his mortal coils to project his persona as a mass of conscious psi-energy. He, if gender even mattered at this point, was now what all of the alien species knew as an Elder. The highest being in the ADVENT hierarchy.

Nearby floated the forms of his fellows each there to discuss the next course of action in their invasion of earth. It had gone well so far, the human's initial resistance had been easily crushed under their technological might and their leaders now pledged allegiance to their cause. Of course it helped that they had promoted that they had peaceful intensions and where to save humanity from themselves. In truth they had fooled the humans just like they had the Vipers, Sectoids, Mutons, and all the other races now under their command through decades of indoctrination and lies. Just like them the Ethereal would harvest their new slaves for any genetic advantage they had before molding them into another cog in the ADVENT machine. All of it to repair the Ethereal's physical degeneration. After all was it not the duty of primitive species to adhere to the desires of the superior ones?

Currently it was now sixteen years into their takeover of the human planet called earth and despite their initial success the ADVENT where behind schedule. The humans had shown to be the key to unlocking a physical body for their minds to inhabit but they were having trouble finding genetic matches they needed to finalize their research. They had been doing well with the kidnapping of those going into gene therapy to their black sites to be processed however it seems now that the humans where beginning to suspect that something was wrong.

" **What is the problem brother?"** another Elder asked wanting clarification on the problems specifics.

" **The humans are becoming wary of our presence. They are notably suspicious of our human soldiers."** The first elaborated.

" **I thought the reason we made the human foot soldiers was to appease their worries? 'To see the potential of what they could be with us' I believe was what you said when the idea was put forward."** The second said.

" **Yes and it worked for a time! Do you see mass protests on the streets? Do you see the human militaries still fighting? No, my plan worked perfectly. However recently the humans have begun to notice that the human foot soldiers we have never remove their helmets, never show their upper face and don't appear to speak their language anymore. They have begun to be suspicious of us and thus are not applying for gene therapy."** The first explained angrily.

" **Then action must be taken. Are there any ideas amongst us?"** The second elder asked the others that where assembled.

There was silence for a long minute before a voice spoke up amongst them **"If the humans wish to see the faces of our forces then let us oblige them."** The other elders turned to see this new speaker and where surprised to see the oldest Ethereal amongst them glide forward.

" **You have a proposition Speaker?"** one of the assembled asked the elder who was the group's leader.

" **Indeed I do. I propose to the assembled that in order to alieve the humans fears we allow the creation of a human task force amongst the ADVENT ranks. If we administer the volunteers with the minimal genetic enhancements and allow them their free will by not installing the command implant than we can have a unit to which the humans can identify with. Soon they will see their fears were unfounded and apply for their gene therapy's post-hast."** The speaker explained which caused a murmur amongst the assembled who debated the idea amongst themselves.

" **Are you sure it is worth the risk? If the human unit discovers or accesses the inner workings of the ADVENT and somehow leaks it before we could stop them…"** the first elder asks before trailing off knowing that all understood what he was implying.

" **Please, the knowledge of our true motives and inner workings are only known by the units of our Special Division the most loyal of our forces. No other species amongst the ADVENT truly know our true intensions. I highly doubt that one human unit will find out when no unit before has. Additionally if we want to be safe we can simply station them away from anything of import. Keep them in the background seen but unseen. After all they are there for propaganda not actual combat."** The Speaker relayed before the elders around him nodded in agreement to the plan before they delved into specifics.

(1 year later. Texas, USA)

(16 years after Unification day)

Captain Tyler R. Harrington cursed again at the infernal contraption that rang insistently in his room at five in the morning. Why officers had to get up this early for he would never know but with a bang of his hand atop the device it shut itself off and Tyler dragged himself from his bed before making the seemingly mile long shuffle to the bathroom attached to his quarters. The bathroom he stepped into was modest with a sink, mirror, toilet, and walk in shower that was his destination. As Tyler took off the pair of gym shorts that was his sleep wear and turned on the shower he couldn't help contemplate just how he had ended up here.

He had been born in Atlanta, Georgia USA to an upper class mother and father in the year 2010. Two years before ADVENT had taken control of earth so he suspected that things where still relatively awkward for the human inhabitants and their new neighbors during his early years. The first major event that had helped shape his future was seeing the different alien species patrolling the quite suburb he and his family lived in. He had been an innocent six year old at the time but he was still fascinated by the many different aliens he sometimes saw patrolling the area. The Vipers where especially interesting to him and he kept running up and asking them questions despite the fact that he could not speak Xeno and they merely tolerated him before he eventually had to return home. However that began to change when he was able to smuggle a steak from the family fridge and offered it to one of the Vipers on patrol that day. The Viper had been surprised and a little hesitant but eventually accepted the offered food and ate it in one swallow. After that the Viper pair that patrolled his neighborhood would make sure to pass by his house and even seemed to be amused by his company though it helped that he brought meat with him occasionally. As he got older and turned 14 he began to learn how to speak Xeno from the pair and eventually became fluent in it at the age of 15.

The Second event that impacted him was his interest in the military. At the age of 13 he was reading Sun Tzu and military novels highlighting the exploits of Patton, Heinz Guderian, Rommel, Alexander, Genghis khan, and Caesar. He even chatted away about military tactics online with people twice his age. He was smart, even his teachers could tell that he would go places in life. However his true displace of brilliance was a book he wrote at the age of 16. Using the knowledge he had gained from his talks with the various aliens patrolling his neighborhood and his knowledge of battlefield tactics, Tyler combined the two and made the _Modern Mixed Battle Tactics_ a book that detailed how best to employ the various advantages of the different alien species of the ADVENT on the battlefield. Tyler had honestly expected the book to get him a passing grade in his class but instead his teacher had passed it along to a few colleagues and before Tyler knew it his book was considered a must read for ADVENT officers and was even a topic of discussion amongst the Ethereal's aboard the Temple ship. Now thrust into the spotlight of ADVENT Tyler was basically assured an officer position when he enlisted and so when his 18th birthday rolled around he did just that.

The final moment that sealed his fate was the apparent timeliness of his enlistment. Apparently a new unit was being created and Tyler being a prized recruit was slated to a new unit called the 77th Human Volunteer Group or the 77th HVG for short. He had been excited a new unit promised a blank slate, he would be helping write the units founding history! That excitement grew when he was given the gene enhancements. Now he was stronger, faster, thought quicker, his reaction had been cut in half, he could see further and in more detail, and even hear further. With his new abilities and body he felt like he could take on the world! So it was like a punch to the gut when he arrived at a small obsolete military outpost outside of Dallas Texas and discovered that this was his unit's home base. That disappointment only grew when instead of being handed a plasma gun like he had seen the Vipers carry he was handed an old conventional firearm and the normal ADVENT trooper armor. He had at first thought it was a mistake and went to the unit's commanding officer who then took his withered hopes and dreams and crushed them into a fine powder before releasing them to the winds of reality.

The reality was that ADVENT high command considered them a joke unit like their sister units recently created 76th and 78th HVG. Apparently humans where considered a joke by the rest of the ADVENT forces and for some reason the recently created units where treated differently than all the other human units Tyler had seen. This explained the shit weapons, the shit base, and the shit location. Hell they didn't even have any other aliens at their location or in the unit. It was an all human unit nobody cared about for a location that nobody cared about. The only thing they were told to do was smile and wave for the camera drone that showed up every now and then.

Now it was three weeks later and as the warm water rushed over Tyler's body he could honestly say he should have just gone into engineering and been done with it. Sighing to himself he stepped out of the shower and turned to the mirror on the wall. The man staring back at him stood at a little more than six feet with short brown hair still wet from the shower, and gold eyes that where a result of the gene enhancement. He was clean shaven with a white skin complexion that had been tanned by the harsh Texas sun. He has broad shoulders and muscular body that with the help of the gene enhancements retained its speed and agility. He had no scars on his body and with the way things were going he wouldn't be getting any for the foreseeable future.

Ripping his gaze away from his reflection he dried off before throwing the towel around his shoulders and walking into his cool room and sighing at the pleasant chill that crept over his body. As he made his way to the room's small dresser he glanced at his room seeing the small un-kept bed, metal floor walls and ceiling, a stand for his armor, a small nightstand, and a wooden desk he had purchased from a local store. Altogether the room was small and barely furnished but about what you would expect from a lowly ADVENT captain.

Shaking his head at the rooms meager furnishings Tyler opened the drawer to the dresser and quickly pulled out a pair of briefs and black socks followed by a skin tight black pants and long-sleeved shirt that were supposed to be breathable but Tyler had his doubts. The outfit was however perfect for going under the armor he was required to wear at all times when not sleeping.

So after getting the outfit on he made his way over to the armor stand where he saw the one piece of decent equipment ADVENT had decided to give them. The armor before him was the standard ADVENT officer armor with the exception of three things. Firstly it had no helmet for some reason, not that Tyler minded considering the heat in Texas would have been even worse in a helmet. Secondly was a painted emblem atop the left breastplate of the armor. The emblem was the 77th's emblem, a red dragon with wings spread and bellowing yellow fire upward with the ADVENT symbol in the background. Below the emblem was the unit's motto Temibile quando Adirato, Protettiva per il nostro gregge, which Tyler translated as Fearsome When Angered, Protective of our Flock. The unit had decided as a group on the emblem and motto and decided the unit's unofficial name to be The Dragoons. The third difference was the gold trim along the armors shoulders depicting him an officer and a unique paint design of the Dragoon officers. The rest of the units armors had been pained the same Maroon red and given the unit emblem on the back.

Piece by piece Tyler donned the armor and with a satisfying click of the arm guard he finished and made his way out of the room and into the blinding Texas sun that was just creeping over the horizon. "Another day, another pointless waste of time and resources." Tyler muttered as he walked over to the Command building in the center of the outpost.

The outpost itself was a simple thing, made during the pre-ADVENT world as an FOB it was surrounded by hesco barriers shaped into a square with two opening at the north and south side of the compound. Along the east side was the barracks building and Vehicle depot where the soldiers slept and where the company received its supplies from the monthly supply trucks. On the west side where the small row of apartments that housed the officers and were Tyler just came from. In the center was the Command building which was only a netted area with some sandbags and a small radio tower at the side. The outpost's only real military buildings where the four metal guard towers at the corners of the facility which each housed a trooper that vigilantly watch for any strange activity.

" _Ha! I would give three years' salary if any of those guys were still awake."_ Tyler thought _"After all who in their right mind would come here, much less start a fight here?"_ This thought however this belief would be blown out of his head when he finally reported to the units XO.

(30 minutes later)

"…What?" Tyler asked in a stupefied voice. The 77ths commanding officer shrugged as he checked over his shiny gold armor.

"Yep apparently someone from that Temple ship decided that they needed to see this sand dune we call a base and is coming over to inspect us in two hours." The commander replied as if stating the weather. Hot, if you were wondering.

"You mean an Ethereal is coming here?" the captain of Alpha squad, Captain Rinauld asked their commander in shock.

"Yep, so get the men ready and in parade formation. I want this unit looking tip top for the dignitary." The commander replied.

"Yes, sir!" Rinauld and Tyler replied along with Captains Davis and Cathic of Bravo and Delta squads, as they snapped a salute before quickly leaving the command 'building' and heading for the barracks.

Tyler made his way over to the barracks and quickly marched through the door and into the large room littered with rows of double bunk beds with sleeping ADVENT soldiers upon them. "RISE AND SHINE ASSHOLES! ON YOUR FEET, I WANT YOU OUTSIDE IN FORMATION WITH FULL KIT AND I WANTED IT YESTERDAY!" Tyler bellowed which shocked the men awake and sent them scrambling to put on their equipment.

It took the men a good ten minutes before they had managed to put on their armor and tidy up their beds. However now all forty men of the 77th where assembled in full armor and weapons in parade formation. The men were lined up in columns of five with a little extra space between every two columns to show each different squad. In front of each of the squads stood their captain who were facing a small podium where the Major would brief the entire unit.

As Tyler stood in front of his ten man squad designated Echo squad, he again wondered why an Ethereal would come all the way out here to see their unit. As Tyler debated this in his head the Major briefed the men on what was about to happen that day causing many to shift nervously.

As Tyler half listened he suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle causing him to glance around. _"Why does it feel like I'm being watched?"_ he thought before the Major dismissed the unit to prepare for their guest.

(Same Time, atop a hill South West of the 77th's base)

"This is Grizzly, we have eyes on the AO. Numerous enemy contacts, ADVENT troopers and Officers." A grizzled man spoke from where he lay atop a small hill overlooking the 77th's fire base. Nearby the bearded man where his five team mates who all had their weapons drawn and where aiming down range at the unsuspecting enemies. Together the six man team made up the members of XCOM's fire team Bear led by their squad leader Grizzly.

"Copy that Grizzly, any sign of the target?" Came the reply over the comm bead.

Grizzly took one last glance threw the pair of binos before replying "Negative Central. We do have another hour before its scheduled to arrive though."

"Understood Grizzly, remember the transport truck is your number one priority all other targets are secondary." Central reminded him before signing off.

Grizzly snorted in contempt "No shit, as if I had to be told that the god damn Ethereal is the priority."

"Maybe he just wants to remind you so you don't get distracted with blowing stuff up again like last time." Black Bear the team's sniper replied with a snarky tone in the American women's voice.

"We did go a little over board last time." Panda said from where the Japanese man lay fingering his grenade launcher.

Unlike the other squads of XCOM Bear time was unique in that with the exception of Black Bear the entire unit was composed of grenadiers. This meant that naturally the squads go to strategy in combat was to use their grenade launchers to blow up anything that look important or moved in the AO. This made them unsuitable for covert missions but perfect in assaults like the one they were on now.

It had been a stroke off luck that XCOM had intercepted radio chatter about the visit of an Ethereal to a remote base in the desert. So acting upon this Central had quickly contacted the local resistance cell and also scrambled Bear to destroy or capture the Ethereal. Grizzly was going for the destroy option personally.

As the team continued to wait the sun started to rise higher in the sky and the heat began to shine down upon them making them sweat in their heavy Kevlar armor. Finally after a while the saw a convoy of three trucks including an armored personnel carrier approaching the base.

"Central this is Grizzly we have eyes on the convoy. Two transport trucks and an APC. I'm guessing our Target is in the APC." Grizzly announced as his squad readied their grenade launchers.

"Confirmed Grizzly. As soon as the convoy stops you are go for Operation High Example. Repeat when the convoy stops the operation is a go." Central replied.

The squad readied their grenade launchers as the convoy entered the base and the troopers lined up in formation to greet their guests. From his position Polar spoke up "So you think the resistance cell was able to plant the thing like they were supposed to?"

Black Bear smiled as she held up a detonator "Only one way to find out." She said as she clicked the button. A bright flash followed as the rear truck in the convoy blew up directly in front of the assembled ADVENT.

"Weapons free Bear!" Grizzly shouted as he and his men fired their five grenade launchers into the base riddling the area with explosions. "Move in!" Grizzly shouted as he and the rest of his squad minus Back Bear charged forward toward the base walls.

(Inside the Fire Base)

"Get to cover god damn it!" Tyler shouted to anyone still left alive after the initial blasts as a sniper shot dropped another soldier standing in the open. Tyler himself ran toward a sandbag wall before rolling behind it and taking stock of the situation.

The initial blast from the rigged truck had detonated directly in front of Bravo squad killing Captain Davis and the rest of his man near instantly. Tyler and the rest didn't have enough time to react before a series of grenades impacted their positions with the first taking out the nearest guard tower and the rest riddling the ADVENT troops where they were assembled.

As Tyler glanced around he saw bodies of his allies strewn around him. Nearby he could see that Captain Cathic had taken a sniper round to the head while his unit was scattered by a grenade that took out half their number. Alpha was scattered with Rinauld and his Lt having been blown apart by a grenade along with three other Alpha members. Tyler knew that Echo wasn't any better after a grenade had landed in the midst of his unit and taking out almost all of them.

Deciding to rally who he could Tyler began to shout orders amidst the chaos "Echo on me! Echo on my position now!" he shouted and soon he was joined by two other troopers he recognized where from his squad. "Richard, Neil where's everyone else?" he asked the panting troopers.

"Dead sir that grenade practically landed in their laps." Richard replied "It's just the two of us and you sir."

"Damn it!" Tyler snapped before glancing over his cover again looking for the Major after a second he found him and four other troopers behind the lead truck shouting orders.

When the Major noticed him he turned and began to shout orders "Captain Harrington take you men and get" he began only to be cut off as another series of grenades landed inside the base with one hitting the truck the Major was behind causing it to explode and consume the Major and his men in flames. The other four grenades either hit the APC destroying its turret or impacted the barracks building reducing it to rubble.

As Tyler watched a group of five soldiers jumped over the fire bases walls and began to dart from cover to cover toward the defenseless APC. Tyler instantly recognized the logo on their armor as XCOM the old world extremist group that had been a thorn in ADVENT's side for years. Ducking back down behind cover Tyler keyed his headset before setting the communication device to the ADVENT network. "This is Captain Tyler R. Harrington of Echo squad, 77th HVG. We are under heavy fire by XCOM forces! We are taking heavy casualties. Requesting immediate reinforcements!" he relayed over the net before a voice responded.

" **This is the 3** **rd** **Viper Core, we are enroot. Hold your positions. Estimated arrival in five minutes."** Came the calm female reply in Xeno from what Tyler could assume was a Viper.

"Understood will hold our ground till your arrival! Echo out." Tyler replied before looking at the advancing XCOM units and then to his men. "Alright here is the deal, we cannot let those ass hats get to the Ethereal. We have to hold them off for another five minutes so the 3rd Viper Core can get here. So if you want to live follow my orders exactly understood!" Tyler relayed and saw both Richard and Neil nod.

"Okay… On me!" he shouted before leaping over the sandbags and sprinting to the burned out husk of the rear truck with both men behind him. When they reached there they were joined by a pair of troopers who were already behind the debris.

One of the men turned before addressing Tyler "Sir, troopers David and Kevin of Alpha squad. Guess we are all yours now."

Tyler nodded "Glad to have you both. We have to hold these guys off for five minutes until reinforcements get here. You good on ammo?" he asked.

"Loaded and ready for payback sir." The other trooper, Kevin announced raising his assault rifle in demonstration.

Tyler nodded before glancing around and noticing the south eastern guard tower was still undamaged. "Richard I want you and Kevin to get in that guard tower and suppress that sniper position. Neil and David come with me. We have to get to that APC before XCOM does. Let's hit these bastard back."

"Yes, sir!" the four men replied before rushing to their tasks.

(With the XCOM Squad)

Grizzly and Polar approached the APC before they ducked down behind cover only twenty feet away. Behind them Brown Bear was suppressing two enemy troopers with his Cannon while Panda and Ursa where ready to move up from their low cover and approach the APC. Giving them the signal Grizzly watched the two approach the back of the APC before they opened the door.

After a minute of silence Ursa's voice shouted over the calm "What the hell there's nobody here!"

Grizzly froze in shock before an angry growl rumbled in his throat "Central this is Grizzly. The target is not here repeat the target is not here. It's a decoy!" Grizzly relayed

"Rodger that Grizzly. Evac the AO. We are detecting enemy reinforcements inbound. Call in the Sky ranger and RTB." Central replied.

"Understood. Alright Bear you heard him let's move." Grizzly ordered.

At the back of the APC Ursa turned toward Grizzly's position before a noise behind him caused him to turn around only to be greeted with the sight of an ADVENT officer with no helmet and a surprisingly human face leaning out from the other side of the APC. "Bye-bye bitch." The office growled before unloading a burst of automatic fire into the operative's chest at point blank range.

Ursa's body fell backward into the APC's compartment as Panda cursed and dove behind cover as another burst of fire sprayed the earth around his boots from a trooper behind short cover. "Ursa is down taking fire!" Panda shouted.

"Shit Black Bear cover Panda!" Grizzly shouted as he and Polar ducked down to cover.

"Got it- SHIT!" Black Bear announced as Grizzly saw a pair of troopers fire on her position from atop a guard tower. "I've been hit!" Black Bear shouted as she rolled down the hill and limped to the cover of the Fire Base's wall while clutching at the bullet wound in her right arm.

Grizzly growled "Brown Bear take out that officer!" he ordered.

Brown Bear shifted his Cannon to the enemy officer and unleashed a stream of fire that clipped the officer. "Get some!" Brown Bear yelled in glee as he continued to pour fire into the officer position.

(With Tyler)

"Ah fuck!" Tyler yelled as he clutched the gash in his cheek where the round from the cannon had grazed him. Neil leaned out of cover from a nearby sandbag wall to unload a clip into the enemy that had hit if Captain dropping the men who screamed in pain before falling backward and slumping against a low sandbag wall dead.

The enemy team leader bellowed in rage before he unloaded into Neil's position clipping the trooper in the arm and sending Neil to the ground in pain. The enemy that was closest to them had managed to scramble back to his allies amongst the firefight and now crouched behind a low sandbag wall.

As Tyler shook off the pain and peeked around cover he saw the enemy squad leader raise his hand and fire off a flare into the air. Soon after a ship flew in and hovered over the area apparently the enemy squad's exfiltration craft. "Advance! Don't let them get away!" Tyler shouted as he rounded the corner of the APC before grabbing a grenade off the dead XCOM operator and tossing it toward the sandbag wall where Panda crouched.

The explosion destroyed the cover but only tossed Panda back onto his ass. However before he could rise and get to cover Richard and David pumped a burst each from their position in the tower to the exposed XCOM operator's chest shredding him in a hail of lead.

As this was happening Grizzly, Black Bear, and Polar where wrenched into the Sky Ranger with Grizzly being the last man on the ground. Before he left he looked to the enemy officer's face and the pair's eyes met. In that second each knew that they would not rest till the other one paid for what happened here. Their stare off was broken by the wrench as it pulled Grizzly up and into the Sky Ranger that quickly took off into the morning horizon.

Tyler stood there watching it go before turning and seeing the destruction the enemy squad had wrought. There wasn't a building that wasn't damaged with the barracks and command building being completely destroyed. Fires flickered from burning oil and the dead lay everywhere spilling their life's blood onto the ground.

"77th on me!" Tyler shouted for any survivors to rally onto his position. Slowly out of the wreckage David, Richard, Neil, and Kevin emerged along with another trooper of Alpha squad and four Delta squad troopers who had been taking cover amongst the carnage. That was ten men including himself, single squad. In the span of a couple minutes they had gone from a forty-five man unit to a single ragtag squad. Part of him couldn't help but marvel at the enemy's effectiveness.

Looking back toward were the Sky Ranger had flew off to Tyler's gaze hardened as he whispered a promises to the wind and the approaching sound of ADVENT dropships.

"XCOM…this isn't over."

 **And Done! I know this may come as a surprise to you all as the idea for this fic suddenly came to me and so I began to write the first chapter down. Just so you all know this takes place in the same XCOM universe as** **spartanrex10's A Grab for the Heart fic but before his takes place.**

 **So you all know I will be accepting SOME OC's but they will only play minor roles unless I decide otherwise. Anyway if you have questions about how to submit an OC or the fic itself, feel free to ask me in a PM or a review and I will answer you either in the next update or in a PM if I have time.**

 **Anyway till next time stay frosty and don't forget to review.**


	2. Chapter 2: From Ashes We Rise

**XCOM- Humanity Rising**

 **Chapter 2: From Ashes We Rise**

Tyler walked through the halls of the ADVENT America HQ building with a determination he had never possessed before in his life. It had been twenty six hours since the attack on his base and he could still see the images of explosions ripping through his comrades. Internally he knew they had it coming, it was obvious in hindsight that the 77th had been totally unprepared for an attack and had grown lazy under the thought of their isolation from any kind of action. This latest attack however had seemed to light a fire under the survivors and they were clamoring for Tyler to get them a combat mission.

Tyler had other thoughts however, he now found himself as the de facto leader of the 77th HVG as the only surviving officer and he had a few issues to fix before even considering the idea of deploying the 77th in a combat scenario. Firstly they needed a new home base that would house the unit and allow them to replenish their manpower. Secondly the unit desperately needed dropships in order to have any chance of seeing combat. Before the previous 77th HVG's commanding officer had never seen the need to get dropships as he seemed content to sit on his ass in the dessert. Tyler however, like his men, wanted to bring the fight to the enemy and with the addition of dropships he could do just that.

The third thing he had to do however the most daunting task was that he had to retrain and rebuild the 77th from the ground up. It was obvious to him that while the survivors had done well in the battle many of the 77ths casualties where due to poor training and lack of situational awareness. He planned to stomp said awareness into his men's skulls until they could react to any threat they may face. To do that however he needed the authority to conduct his own training regimen from ADVENT High Command which brought him to the reason her was looking forward to the debriefing about to take place.

As he walked down the white metal hallways of the HQ building in San Francisco he was not alone. Slithering next to him was a viper. This viper however was none other than Commander Vissta of the 3rd Viper Core and one of ten commanders that reported directly to the ADVENT high command. Unlike other vipers Vissta had blue scales along her head and back with a white underbelly. Her slit eyes where an emerald green that contrasted well with the areas of black scales that appeared on her cheeks and along the back of her hood. She wore silver armor like most vipers but with the exception of a gold V on the front that ran from her collar bone to just below her rib cage.

Vissta had been the viper had had spoken to on the radio for assistance and was here to oversee the meeting after giving Tyler and the 77ths survivors a lift to headquarters. He had honestly been surprised when he saw her, knowing her importance to the viper species. While most would assume that the vipers where beholden to only ADVENT high command and thusly the Elders Tyler knew this not to be the full story. In truth the viper species had originally lived on a savannah like planet before their sun started to die out. They normally would have perished if not for the ADVENT and the Elders who rescued them and incorporated them into the ADVENT ranks with the promise of colonizing a new world for them.

While the viper species joined the ADVENT banner they still had their own leader known as their Queen. It was the Queen that all vipers followed and swore true loyalty toward over that of even the Elders. Unfortunately the previous Queen had died a decade or so before the ADVENT arrived on earth and so a power vacuum occurred amongst the viper species who now waited for a new Queen and followed the words of the Elders until a new one is determined. In order for a viper to become queen certain criteria needed to be fulfilled. Firstly they needed to be popular amongst their species as a military commander. Secondly they must be at least 32 years old and have a designated life partner or mate in order to ensure the continuation of their line. Finally they must be of royal pedigree either being a relative of a preexisting queen or a descendant of one. Vissta was actually one of the two candidates to become the next queen although she still had fill some of the criteria like the age and mate requirement. She was however a daughter of the previous queen, a renowned commander of the 3rd Viper Core, and one of only two vipers left that could assume the role of queen.

Tyler had been initially surprised that a unit as decorated as the Viper 3rd Core would come to his unit's aid considering they were one of two viper only units in the world and even more so that Vissta herself would be on the first dropship. He had even expected a little animosity toward his men for being human but the vipers seemed uncaring toward the humans though a little sympathetic considering their situation. However that all changed when the vipers saw the bodies of three XCOM operatives amongst the dead. Apparently killing even a single member of the group was considered an achievement, killing half a squad and forcing them to pull back was almost unheard of. After that the vipers had been glancing at the humans appraisingly and Vissta had insisted that she accompany Tyler to his debriefing to give her impressions and pass along her recommendation of promoting him for his unit's deed.

So here the two were approaching a doorway that separated them from the meeting to decide the fate of the 77th HVG. Pausing at the door to allow the two ADVENT troopers to scan them before nodding and allowing them through the two entered a dark room with a single spotlight shining down from the ceiling to a small circular stage. Around the stage floated five beings that shocked Tyler, he was not expecting his debriefing to be done by the Elders.

" **Captain Harrington, Commander Vissta. Please come forward."** The center Elder's projection announced in a calm and wizened tone.

The human and viper quickly approached and stood in the center of the stage now surrounded by the forms of the ADVENT's true leaders. The pair both brought their hands to their chest in the ADVENT salute before relaxing and waiting for the Elders to start the debriefing. The same Elder in the center kicked off the meeting **"First I feel we must apologize to you Captain."** He stated in an apologetic tone.

Tyler was taken aback by the Elders statement "Apologize for what sir?" he asked in confusion.

" **You see Captain the attack on your unit's base is not a coincidence. In reality we had discovered the existence of a leak in the ADVENT network. In order to determine the identity of the leak we had to supply them with a target that they would have to relay to XCOM. This target was a rumor of an Ethereal going to a reclusive firebase. We spread this information amongst certain channels and issued similar orders for two other firebases amongst different channels to see which channels where compromised. As it turns out XCOM learned of all three different locations and decided to hit all three using two of their extremist cells to attack the 76** **th** **HVG and 78** **th** **HVG while XCOM hit your unit. This is why we must apologize to you as although we have found and fixed the leak in our network it meant the destruction of not only the 77** **th** **but also the annihilation of the 76** **th** **and 78** **th** **HVG groups."** The Elder explained.

Tyler stood there in shock at the new of the destruction of the 77th's sister units. After a second or two Tyler looked up at the Elder who spoke "Where there any survivors from either unit sir?" he asked.

One of the elders to Tyler's left responded **"Yes though very few, two from the 76** **th** **and another from the 78** **th** **."**

" _Only three…"_ Tyler thought is sadness at the loss of life.

The elder in the center began to speak again **"Now Captain we must determine what is to happen to your unit. We understand that including yourself only ten members of the 77** **th** **survived."**

"Yes sir. In addition I would like to say that while we are severely undermanned I believe that the 77th is still a salvageable unit." Tyler replied with a confident tone.

" **You still believe your unit to be able to continue to exist?"** an elder asked from the far right.

Tyler nodded "Yes Elders. I believe that while we have taken a hit I can rebuild the 77th to combat readiness. I just need a base, some dropships, and your permission to train the men as I see fit." Tyler affirmed and asked at the same time. This was the crucial moment in the meeting that would determine the 77th's fate.

" **Why do you wish to retrain them? Is there something you think is lacking in the training you have already received?"** The far left elder demanded.

"No sir" Tyler shook his head before explaining "It's just that this experience has made me determined to make the 77th the best I can make them. To do that I need to expose them to some rather unorthodox training not only to make them capable of fighting XCOM but also to be one of the best units in ADVENT."

The elders considered Tyler's rather bold claim before turning to Vissta who had remained impassive as she stood off to the side. **"Commander Vissta, what do you think of the Captain's claims? Do you believe the 77** **th** **is salvageable and capable of being as effective as Harrington claims?"** The head elder asked.

Vissta glanced at Tyler before thinking for a moment **"Elders, while I do not know if the 77** **th** **is salvageable at this point I do believe that the Captain here is the only one that could do so. He has shown to be an effective leader and his men trust him. As for the combat prowess the Captain claimed he could achieve, well he did manage to wipe out half an XCOM squad and force them to retreat. I personally believe that he should be given a chance."** Vissta finally replied much to Tyler's relief at the recommendation of the famous viper.

The Elders contemplated this request amongst themselves physically. In truth by accepting this request had more positives than negatives. They could afford the resources to get Tyler the equipment he needed and also wouldn't have to make a new poster unit if the 77th was still around. Sure they couldn't do any additional photo sessions with the unit until they beefed up their man power but they still wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of having to create new units. They were also intrigued at the fact that Vissta would endorse the 77th's continued existence. In truth they believed Vissta to independent of a leader to take command of the vipers and instead hoped her rival Sisstha of the 2nd Viper Core took up the queen of her people as she was much more beholden to their rule, almost to a religious point. If Vissta endorsed the 77th and Tyler failed to meet expectations than her reputation would take a hit and Sisstha would be the more likely candidate for queen.

Coming to a decision the center Elder spoke **"Very well if Vissta agrees that the 77** **th** **can be as effective as you say Captain than we see no problem in allowing the 77** **th** **to rebuild. We the Elders hereby grant the Tyler Harrington the rank of Major and give him command of the 77** **th** **Human Volunteer Group. Congratulations Major."** The center Elder congratulated Tyler who saluted them and nodded.

"Thank you Elders I will prove myself and my men up to the task." He relayed with conviction.

The lead elder nodded at his words before turning to the Elder on his right **"What bases are available to house the 77** **th** **?"** he asked his compatriot.

The other Elder thought for a bit before answering " **There is the wreckage of battleship 3. It has been abandoned after it was brought down 21 years ago but still has a network of automated defenses that keep the site safe. It still needs to be cleared out but it has more than enough room for the 77** **th** **."** The elder replied.

The central Elder nodded before addressing Tyler **"Very well, major we hereby give you the wreckage of the battleship in Kakadu National Park, Australia. We will also supply you with three dropships to transport your men to the site along with a complement of engineers to bring the facilities back online. We also will transfer the survivors of the 76** **th** **and 78** **th** **HVG to your unit and send new recruits to you when they are available. You are dismissed."** The Elder announced causing the both Tyler and Vissta to salute before leaving the room.

As the pair walked/slithered down the hall Tyler turned to Vissta. "Thank you for your recommendation ma'am. I don't know how but I'll make this up to you." Tyler spoke earnestly.

Vissta nodded before rounding on the human causing the pair to stop and Tyler unconsciously ready himself **"Just so we are clear human I risked my reputation on this little venture of yours. If you fail my chances of becoming the next queen will deteriorate and Commander Sisstha will rub it in my face. If you want to repay my generosity than don't fail. I have a good feeling about you human. See to it my faith was not misplaced or you will see just how uncomfortable your life will be when I'm done with you."** Vissta hissed in his face while poking him in the chest before she retreated and left the sweating human in the hall.

"What the hell did you get yourself into Tyler?" He asked himself before he walked down the hall toward his unit. He had a lot of work to do after all.

X Break X

It had been eight months since Tyler had been promoted to major and a lot had happened in that time both good and bad. Firstly once the vipers had heard that Vissta had risked her reputation on his unit they were highly critical of his unit. They saw him and the 77th as the ones that were going to ruin the Commanders reputation and so avoided the 77th whenever possible. Still though that suited Tyler just fine as it allowed him to rebuild the 77th in privacy.

First manner of business was the unit's new base needed to be brought online. The problem was that the Elders had neglected to tell him that the wreckage was just that. The ship had been brought down in the late stages of the war by a combined air attack from a multitude of countries. The ship had gone down over Australia after wiping out most of its attackers at the cost of the ships engines. The dead crew and the survivors where quickly rescued by ADVENT forces but before XCOM or another human government could move and salvage the wreckage XCOM had been destroyed and the human governments had surrendered. This left the battleship laying forgotten in the wilderness of Australia until the 77th now had need of it.

While the outer shell of the battleship was mostly intact the engines and most of the ships weaponry where damaged beyond repair. Internally the ship was a mess with entire sections needing to be cleared and cleaned. Thankfully the engineers where quickly able to clear off the landing pads and the barracks area as they were easily accessible and survived better than the rest of the ship, so the unit didn't have to sleep outside. Apparently the ship itself had five main decks and the outer hall deck. The bottom floor or floor 1, contained the reactor room which was hot and humid but still supplied bower to the ship, and the vehicle bay where Tyler hoped to store any vehicles and MECs in the future. Floor 2 contained the Engineering and Science wings along with the officers for those workers. Unfortunately the 77th didn't have any scientists to work their so the Science wing was currently dormant. Thankfully the Engineering wing still had some materials in it allowing for the engineers to make basic repairs to the ships systems and keep up maintenance. Near the barracks the engineers managed to clear out the Armory by the end of the first month and Tyler was excited to see the ships armory was still stocked with mag rifles which he distributed amongst them men to replace their standard issue assault rifles.

By the end of the first month most of the hallways of the ship had been cleared out by the engineers along with restoring the power to crucial systems like electricity, plumbing, reactor, and more importantly the automated defenses. Now with a series of auto turrets guarding their base the 77th could actually start training instead of guarding the base.

The 77th received the three survivors from the 76th and 78th HVG's, which brought their total combat personnel to thirteen. Unfortunately they couldn't radio for additional support personnel because the ships communications where down. Still though this provided Tyler the opportunity to begin to make good on his promise to retrain the 77th and the wilderness of Kakadu National Park provided the perfect area to begin training his men in basic survival skills. He taught his men skills such as hunting, tracking, fire making, and navigation. This Tyler, knew would help in tracking enemy forces through the wilderness as well as long term reconnaissance, and ambush tactics.

During their second month of work the engineers had hit a snag getting the two main lifts of the ship functioning correctly, hampering them from moving material needed to clear the upper decks. The engineers however did manage to get them operational toward the end of the month allowing them to begin focusing on the upper levels. This would allow them to access the rest of the ships upper decks where the critical facilities are like the CIC and communications room.

Tyler for his part finished up the survival courses along with the rest of the 77th and soon began to focus on training his troops in small team tactics like fire and maneuver, fighting retreat, and suppressive fire. The aim was to get his men capable of fighting capably without Tyler having to micromanage them. He intensified this training by having them compete against each other in simulated battles using simunition. Tis also had the side benefit of getting his men some battle experience though limited.

The third and fourth months went by for the 77th with the engineers managing to bring the Officers' Quarters and the Communications room back online allowing the 77th to requisition additional supplies and personnel. The supplies arrived a few day latter and included more Mag rifles and spare armor parts as well as a training program for pilots, after all while the unit had gotten by with the dropships autopilot function Tyler still wanted to have some dedicated pilots in his unit.

Speaking of training the 77th got its first batch of recruits. The ten new members brought the units potential combat operators to twenty-three, however of these new recruits three of them had experience as pilots and Tyler wasted no time in transitioning them into the simulators to practice.

Though this did bring him down to twenty combat personnel Tyler thought it was a worthy sacrifice for having actual pilots for the dropships. Those twenty however where already showing signs of being superior to the regular ADVENT troopers. The newest batch of recruits where undergoing the survival portion of the training and where almost finished by the end of the fourth month. Tyler and the rest of the original group had just finished up its small unit tactics portion and where now working on their functioning with a larger force along with the new recruits. They practiced large force maneuvers like pincer attacks, envelopment, rapid movement, and finally unit communication and coordination. All together the unit's different fire teams were beginning to work seamlessly with one another as a whole squad. Tyler again paired them up with one squad of ten versus the units other squad of ten. By this point the unit had built a sense of comradery amongst the men while the veteran members mentored the rookies who in turn often asked for help or advice from the experienced comrades.

Not everything was good news however as although Tyler and the 77th worked well with each other the contempt of the other races began to make itself known amongst the men of the 77th. Whenever a supply ship would come in the engineers or the units combat personnel would unload it as the ship's crew either Vipers or even a rare Muton or two would refuse to help saying it was below their station. This animosity weighed heavily upon Tyler and his men but also motivated them to prove themselves and thus their species to the other races of the ADVENT.

During the fifth and sixth months the 77th began teaching its members close quarters combat utilizing knives, and hand to hand. Thankfully one of the veterans was a martial artist and helped the unit in utilizing elbows, knees, and their fists to quickly stun or disarm enemies when up close. For a more lethal option the unit was issued combat knives made from the ships hall. The knives where taken from the design of the old world Steel Eagle Large 107E Knife and gleamed a menacing silver unless it was a recon or stealth mission in which case the 77th had a black version of the knife. Along with the CQC the 77th also underwent a special training regime of Tyler's called insertion training where the group trained in various insertion and extraction methods including landing in hot LZ's and evacuating under the same conditions.

The biggest pieces of news however was the arrival of another supply convoy and the reactivation of the ship's CIC. The clearing of the CIC allowed for support personnel to coordinate with 77th teams no matter their location on the planet which allowed the 77th to have the capability to conduct operations for ADVENT. Now the engineers where working on clearing out the non-essential rooms and areas in order to free up more space for storage and personnel quarters. In addition the second supply shipment had arrived and unloaded ten new recruits and more support staff along with important supply's like grades Tyler wanted to issue his troops and some creature comforts for the troops off time like books and magazines along with the mail.

The seventh month had been much more relaxed then the first six months of hectically training and getting the base online. Tyler had effectively twenty ready combat personnel with another twenty still undergoing training but ready in the next month or two. Now his men where just brushing up on their skills and competing against other fire teams or squads. Tyler now had the time to promote officers and soon he promoted the necessary personnel for his two functioning squads including sergeants and captains. The engineers had also apparently hooked up a broadcasting system in the ship allowing the CIC to issue alerts to the crew and combat units. The head engineer, a man named Cliff, stated that they were working on clearing an area to use as a break room and another as a storage area. He relayed that he would inform Tyler when they were finished clearing it.

Now it was the beginning of the eighth month and Tyler was in the ship's communications room reading over the message he had just received from ADVENT HQ. Around him the support crew that worked in communications when about their business either working at consoles or hustling around reporting to one member or another. However despite the controlled chaos around him Tyler's focus was entirely on the message in front of him and its contents. Apparently they wanted to see how much progress he had made in retraining his unit. The only problem was the mission they had sent was one he knew would be difficult.

Next to him one of the communications personnel leaned over his shoulder and as he saw the mission's title asked "Who the hell is 'The Cannibal'?"

Tyler just sighed before responding "A problem".

 **Aaannnddd Chapter! Ok so for those of you who think that I am speeding through the training of the 77** **th** **these are only the basics of this type of training so they are not experts in it. The 77** **th** **will take 3 years to be fully retrained and reequipped and even then Tyler will have to get some of his goals accomplished by getting his guys on the battlefield and getting them experience. I also wanted to get this chapter out in order to help people with OC's as some info they send me conflicts with the backstory and lore for this fanfiction, so read some of the info below.**

 **Before that though I need to answer some questions:**

 **From Some dude- So, are the people in this going to discover advent's big secret?**

 **Vantage77- Well some dude this will be one of the main plots to the story. As free thinking humans the 77** **th** **HVG obviously would be opposed to ADVENT's true agenda but they need to discover it first and unlike XCOM the 77** **th** **will take longer to see that things aren't quite what they appear with ADVENT as they are not opposed to ADVENT like XCOM is and thus have no reason to go to ADVENT Black sites.**

 **Background Information Time! The time where I provide you with background info that hopefully will clear up some questions you may have.**

 **ADVENT CODEX accessing information files:**

 **Accessing File 01-1:**

 **ADVENT Ranks (from lowest to highest)**

 **Remember since the HVG units don't have mind chips they need a specialized ranking system since they have free will.**

 **HVG units- Private (regular forces), Sargent (team leader), Lieutenant (Squad's second in command), Captain (Squad leader), Major (Unit leader).**

 **Alien units- Grunts (regular units), Lesser Officers (team leaders), Mid Officer (Squad officers), High Officers (unit leaders), Commander (renowned officers that are allowed a lot of autonomy with their units), Generals (species leaders), ADVENT High Command (Ethereal counsel), Elders (The oldest and most powerful Ethereal)**

 **Accessing File 02-1:**

 **The Viper species comes from a desert world far away from earth. The species original functions in a hierarchy with the Queen being the leader of her species, with her successors being in high standing and eligible to take the thrown should the queen die. The species used to have two genders of both male and females however when their sun suddenly began to die out and the temperature of their home world plummeted the males of the species quickly died off while the females went underground in caves in order to keep warm. It was at this point that ADVENT arrived and evacuated the surviving Vipers off world. In gratitude the Viper queen pledged her loyalty to the ADVENT cause, if they helped the vipers find a new world to colonize.**

 **After three hundred years of living in the ADVENT space ships and helping in the siege of other worlds that where unsuitable for them. The Vipers are now dwindling in number with the last of their males dying a decade before the invasion of earth and their numbers taking heavy losses in the initial invasion. Worse for the vipers was the loss of their Queen just before the invasion of earth. Now the species is split into two factions that support either of the two previous queen's heirs, Vissta of the 3** **rd** **Viper Core and Sisstha of the 2** **nd** **Viper Core. If something does not change however the Viper species will soon become on the verge of extinction.**

 **The Vipers have three main military forces though they had a fourth at the start of the invasion of Earth. The 1** **st** **Viper Core participated with the advanced forces of the invasion force and underwent extensive gene therapy to become infiltration units known by XCOM as thin-men. Unfortunately these infiltration units where all eventually killed off in the initial invasion as their disguise failed under close scrutiny. Now the rest of the vipers combat forces are either in the 2** **nd** **or 3** **rd** **Viper cores or the Viper Legion. The Viper cores are all viper units under the command of one of the royal heirs and serve as a royal guard of sorts. The Viper Legion is a collection of Vipers that are distributed amongst different ADVENT forces in pairs based on demand.**

 **The vipers are highly optimistic of Earth as it has many areas that Vipers could permanently colonize and indeed the Vipers have begun to create nests in order to replenish their numbers with the aid of gene technology to create viper eggs. Though vipers born from such an arrangement are fairly weak and low in number with some having strange birth defects. There are only a few nests but they serve as coveted havens for the viper species. Other than serving as a guard or caretaker for a nest or as a combat member Vipers have been known to be scientists among ADVENT.**

 **Well that's it for this chapter! Till next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Cannibal

**Hello everyone before we begin I just wanted to give a big shootout to Dr1ft3r0I who has agreed to be my Beta for this story! Anyway let's not waste any more time and get to it so here is…**

 **Chapter 3: The Cannibal**

Personal Log of Major Harrington, T, 77th HVG

XXX Entry: 013 XXX

"The Cannibal" was a famous rogue Viper whose real name was Raynais Klise Ternes. The fact that she had a full name was very telling to me at the time. Usually Vipers are only given a first name and keep it for the rest of their lives. The second name is given if the Viper is ever transferred to a different unit away from its original one. This second name usually denotes either the original unit or the Viper's birth place. This is to increase the prestige of the nest she comes from and to also remind the Viper of her true home. The middle name is given if the Viper reaches a mid-level officer rank and is a way for her to show prestige. When Raynais betrayed her species and ADVENT, they gave her a title and refused to call her by her original name; in this way they had, in-effect, disowned her.

Given her crimes, I wasn't surprised that they made that decision. Raynais apparently was a mid-level officer in the Viper's 2nd Corps when, for reasons that are still unclear, she betrayed ADVENT by destroying the base's ammo dump where she was stationed at. During her escape, she killed and apparently ate a fellow Viper that had tried to stop her. After her escape, she went underground somewhere in the Florida swamps. She has been known since then to attack unwary ADVENT patrols and consume any human soldiers amongst them. Strangely, she has never appeared to eat regular civilians or other Vipers, though that hasn't stopped her from shooting her own species.

It had been two years since her desertion, so I was fairly surprised when the mission was sent to my office directly from ADVENT Command. I at first was convinced that they wanted to make the 77th fail by sending us a mission that no ADVENT unit had been successful at before. That was until I read the mission details. Apparently a group of black market operatives had chanced upon the Viper and managed to capture her and where now holding her in their camp in the Florida panhandle. ADVENT intelligence was convinced that the group was planning to sell the traitorous Viper to XCOM. This was unacceptable. Because of Raynais's previous position as an officer, she had been allowed access to classified ADVENT files, most likely base compositions, supply routes, anything that could be used against us by those terrorists. It was now the 77th's job to go into the Florida swamps and find the base before calling in airstrikes to kill both the black marketers and Raynais, though it was preferred that I capture her if possible. I knew that due to the time sensitivity of this mission, we didn't have the time to use our training in tracking to find the base, so instead I decided to bring in some outside help.

XX End Entry XX

 **"Yes I need two of them… no I don't need an entire unit. I just want a patrol's worth… No they have to be Hounds… yes two Hounds and nothing else!"** Tyler in xeno shouted over the comm in annoyance as he and the five others in the six man strike team rode in one of the 77th's dropships toward Tampa Bay, Florida where there was an ADVENT unit stationed. The six men where all wearing the regular ADVENT trooper armor but painted a maroon red, showing them to be members of the 77th HVG. Tyler himself was slightly different as he also had the gold strips along his arms showing him to be an officer. Tyler was currently on the communication's channel with the Tampa Bay commander trying to make him understand his request of transferring two Hounds assigned to this unit to the 77th temporarily for the mission.

The Hounds where a militaristic race and the most recent addition to the ADVENT species before the invasion of Earth. Most Hounds bore a striking resemblance to Timberwolves, but scaled up to a larger size averaging out at chest level of an average human male when fully grown. They had an amazing sense of both smell and hearing which they used to track enemy forces, again much like their terrestrial cousins. The Hounds, being quadrupedal, where equipped with a large turret mounted onto their back attached to a chest piece that covered most of their torso, and the front shoulders of the Hound. The species was distinctly male oriented and their government was actually tribal based, a trait retained from when they were still independent of ADVENT. The Hound species are separated into packs, usually led a large male Alpha and keeping away from other 'packs'. Currently the fact that the Hounds are a recent addition to the ADVENT cause makes them heavily looked down upon by other races. A fact that likely explained why the Tampa Bay commander was finding it hard to understand Tyler's request for only two Hounds for a high risk mission instead of a more 'reliable' species. Still, Tyler needed their tracking ability to complete their mission, a fact that he was finally getting through to the commander.

"Yes… Good to hear, thank you… ETA is three minutes… right, we'll pick them up on the tarmac. 77th HVG out," Tyler finished before sighing and gazing out the open hatch of the dropship at the approaching base before turning to his men. "Okay listen up, this will be the first op we will conduct with another species. I expect you all to be professional and respectful to them, understood?" he asked sternly. The men nodded and returned to checking their weapons as the dropship lowered to the ground inside the base. Tyler hopped out the hatch to greet the pair of large wolf looking aliens that were walking towards them.

The two Hounds that approached him were what typical member of their species looked like, with grey fur and standing on four powerful legs at about chest height. As they approached Tyler knew they were regarding him with suspicion and likely had misgivings about working with an unknown human this suddenly. As Tyler waited for them to reach him, he noticed that the pair of them were a male and a female, with the male being a couple inches larger than the female. Tyler suspected that because of the suddenness of his request, the local pack that was stationed at this base was suspicious of his intentions and so sent one of their few males along instead of a pair of the more common females just to make sure he didn't whisk them off to another pack.

When the two finally reached them the slightly larger one stepped forward before addressing him. **"Did you request our presence here Major? The base commander said you only asked for two hounds and nothing else,"** The Hound asked in xeno with a masculine, sandpaper like voice.

Tyler nodded before replying back in the same language. **"Yes that is correct. We have need of your species skill set for a very important mission. I will explain more on the way so please board the dropship as we are pressed for time."** Tyler saw the two glance uncertainly at each other before hesitantly nodding and boarding the vessel. Tyler quickly climbed in after them and shut the hatch as the dropship quickly lifted off and sped toward the north east to the AO.

Inside the dropship Tyler glanced back at the pair of Hounds whose hunched shoulders and tensed muscles showed their nervousness about their surroundings. On either side of the pair were the five fully armored forms of the other members of the strike team who were performing last minute equipment checks while also glancing over to the pair of aliens now riding within arm's length of them. Tyler couldn't help but frown at the obvious tension between the two races, sans one, and decided to distract the Hounds by briefing them on the operation.

 **"Okay here is the situation; HIGHCOM has acquired intelligence that the wanted fugitive known as 'The Cannibal' has been traced to an area nearby. Intel also suggests that she has been captured by a group of black marketers who plan on selling her to XCOM or the resistance. Because of the fugitive's previous position as an officer, we have been ordered to make sure that she never reaches them. Our plan is to insert quietly into the AO and find the location of the hostile's camp before calling in an airstrike to neutralize all the marketers and the target or if possible capture her. Your job will be to use your tracking abilities to help us locate the base. Understood?"** Tyler explained before he remembered he didn't even know what to address them by. **"Also I never got your names before we left. What do I call you two?"**

The pair of Hounds stood there taken aback by the formality and friendly approach of the human before them. No previous non-Hound had ever admitted that they needed their skills before, much less wanted to know their names. For the majority of their lives they had been treated as second class citizens by almost all of the other ADVENT species. Most of ADVENT's forces did their best to ignore their existence seeing them as just part of the background at best and as vile subservient animals at worst. The idea that someone was now showing a member of their species with respect was unheard of, and honestly the pair were unsure how to respond to the human.

Taking the lead the male of the two decided to respond. "I'm called Sidolus, my mate here is named Nishda," he replied shakily, his mouth not used to using English.

Tyler nodded while relived that the two understood English, before replying. "Good to have you Sidolus, Nishda. While on mission we'll go by the call signs Wolf 1 for Sidolus and Wolf 2 for Nishda," Tyler announced before pausing to listen to a communication from the pilot and then giving a nod. "We're about to drop! Everyone heads on the swivel, I don't want any of you dying on me during the first op!" Tyler announced before turning to face the doors of the dropship which opened to reveal a dense layer of trees beneath them shrouded with mist. The dropship slowed down over a clearing before lowering to a hover about ten feet from the ground.

Tyler wasted no time and quickly leapt out of the aircraft and braced himself for the ground only to discover that the ground wasn't so solid. Tyler bit back a curse as he found himself sinking to his thighs in murky swamp water before his feet finally found purchase on the muddy bottom. His sentiments where quickly shared by the rest of the team as they followed him into the swamp. Above them the dropship closed its doors and took off along its pre-established holding pattern until they called for their pickup.

Tyler soon situated himself and tried to examine his surroundings. The entire area was shrouded in a layer of fog that gave the entire swamp a very creepy and foreboding look to it. As the noise from the drop ship faded away Tyler could hear the chirping of crickets along with the splashes of things jumping or entering the water. Tyler hoped it was just frogs and not an alligator as having to fight one off was not that high on his to-do list at the moment. Around them was the murky swamp water that hid what was underneath the surface, only broken by the many trees and fallen logs poking up through the water. Nearby an owl hoot began only adding to the foreboding feeling that the swamp seemed to exude.

"Wolf 1, Wolf 2 can you pick up any scents?" Tyler asked as he and the five other humans began to scan their sectors with rifles raised.

The pair of Hounds raised their heads and began to inhale the air nearby with a series of sniffs before finally Nishda looked off to their North West. "I smell fire about three miles to the north west," The female reported.

Tyler nodded. "That's our target probably. All right everyone stay alert and keep quite. I don't want to alert them of our presence until absolutely necessary," Tyler instructed before turning to one of the members of his unit. "Sergeant Hopkins, take point with Wolf 2," He ordered the trooper.

Sergeant Hopkins was one of the newer additions to the 77th HVG and arrived with the second batch of recruits. Even then though, Tyler knew that he was different from the others mostly due to his age. Hopkins was actually thirty-four and pretty old for someone just joining the unit. However the man also had a bachelor's degree in Material Engineering and showed a knack for logistical and maintenance work, which was a godsend during the eight months repairing their home base. Tyler needed that kind of expertise so he had decided to take a risk on recruiting him despite some big black marks on the man's record. Two such marks being smuggling ADVENT material to civilians, and outspoken negative remarks of the ADVENT coalition. When Tyler had thought of recruiting him, he dug a little deeper into the man's background and found that while he did smuggle ADVENT material to civilians, it was mostly medicine and food for people living in communities outside ADVENT control and who desperately needed it. Tyler couldn't fault the man's charity and decided that so long as he curbed his loudmouth tendencies and ran any charity drops by Tyler first, he could be a productive member of the 77th. Tyler told him as much when he arrived and so far it had worked, with Hopkins helping out the engineers and fulfilling his soldier duties without causing any trouble. Now the much shorter (compared to Tyler) soldier with fairly tanned skin and close cut greying brown hair cut was decked out in maroon ADVENT trooper armor and wading through swampy muck at the front of the strike team alongside a large canine that was following the scent of a fire through the swamps of Florida. Obviously there was nothing to regret about his decisions in life.

As the group wadded further into the swamp, minutes became hours as the muddy bottom made progress slow, and the attempt to reduce the noise they made reduced them to a slow and careful walk. All the while the humans constantly scanned the water and tree tops for both human and animal threats. Finally, after three hours of trudging through the swamp, a light appeared in the distance through the fog in front of them and the sounds of voices carried over. The group soon began to creep closer to the lights while keeping low and moving from cover to cover. As the team got closer it became apparent that the lights where various campfires and the amount of voices meant they were approaching a larger encampment then they were told they would be dealing with. Tyler moved behind a fallen tree no more than a hundred yard away from the camp and peered over, getting his first look at the opposition and was not happy with his findings.

The enemy camp was situated on an expanse of ground above water level allowing the marketers to set up close to twenty tents arranged in a circle. Nearby fires allowed for a comfortable amount of light to surround the camp enabling the marketers to see the area around them, to a point. The camp was sparsely patrolled with only two pairs of men patrolling the perimeter, likely doing so only to keep any alligators from wandering into camp. Within the camp itself the tents where assembled haphazardly, with supplies and merchandise stored within boxes that were left throughout the camp. Tyler just knew that that alone would piss Sergeant Hopkins off. In the center of the camp was a clearing where a majority of the marketers where drinking and partying near a large tent and two cages.

Two occupied cages.

"Shit," Tyler muttered as he gazed at the two forms within the confines of their respective cages. The first was their target Raynais, her white scales and grey underbelly making her appear almost ghostlike within the fog, only hampered by the bruises and cuts that marred her form. She was curled up in an aggressive posture while hissing at anyone who got close, her eyes glaring at everyone around her but then flickering toward the other cages occupant and reaching a whole new level of hatred. Tyler would bet that the Cannibal would live up to her namesake and eat the other cages' occupant if they weren't separated by the bars of the steel cage and about fifteen feet of space.

The other occupant was another Viper. This one however had the traditional yellow-orange to tan scales and a cream colored underbelly. Her form was partially hidden by a combination of a white lab coat that was ripped up to the point of almost falling off and the fact that she was coiled as tightly as possible to create as much distance between her and the cage bars as possible. The Viper herself had even more cuts and bruises than Raynais and was currently cowering with her hands held above her head and terrified amber eyes fearfully glancing at all the shouting humans as they threw beer bottles at her shaking form.

Tyler keyed his radio. "Command, this is Major Harrington, be advised we have located our objective but we have eyes on a second Viper POW. She is wearing a lab coat with typical Viper coloration. What are our orders?" he relayed to ADVENT High Command and after a couple of minutes a reply came through in raspy English.

"Designate the target for air strike Major. Strike inbound ETA ten minutes," the uncaring voice relayed.

Tyler snarled as he saw another bottle strike the unknown Viper before breaking and leaving her with a gash along her hood. "Affirmative command, designating now," Tyler stated before raising the laser designator and painting the camp.

"Coordinates locked in Major, air strike inbound," The voice reported before signing off. Tyler looked over at Sergeant Hopkins, glaring at him.

"I'd say it, but I'm not," Sergeant Hopkins grunted before looking at the camp, scanning it. "All the same sir, I say fuck their orders and grab them anyway."

"Agreed, and for once, you held your tongue. So, new plan," Tyler whispered loudly before turning to the rest of his squad. "I'm not going to leave that viper out there to die in a friendly airstrike so that means we have less than ten minutes to get her out of there along with the Cannibal if we can," he explained with a determined frown.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Hopkins asked with a more relieved tone, knowing his commander was going to attempt a rescue plan, his grip relaxing on the old-Earth styled marksman rifle he was carrying.

Tyler glanced at the area around the camp before noticing the fires and the shadows they created. "Alright, here's the plan. Sergeant Hopkins, stay here with Privates Sam, Anthony, and Jim. In five minutes I want you laying down suppressing fire and riddling this side of the camp with as much fire as you can. Wolf 1, stay here with them and use that plasma cannon to riddle those tents. Do not fire toward the back of the camp or the cages. Private Timothy, I want you and Wolf 2 with me. We are going to sneak around to the other side of the camp and wait until we hear Sergeant Hopkins open fire. Once we do, we're going to use the chaos to sneak in and grab the captives. Private Tim, you still have that stun lance?" he asked the trooper in question.

"Yes sir, never leave home without it," Private Timothy affirmed, pulling the lance out from where it was kept strapped to his back. They had brought the lance for just this mission in case an opportunity presented itself to capture Raynais. After all, a public trial and execution where much more moral boosting than an airstrike that nobody would see.

Tyler nodded toward Tim. "Good, as soon as you can, hit that bitch with a full charge and knock her out. Meanwhile, Wolf 2 will carry her out of here while you and I escort our unknown guest. We have to be in and out in less than five minutes, so don't dilly-dally out there," he instructed, receiving nods from his men and affirmative growls from the Hounds.

"Okay," Tyler growled before looking over his cover at the camp, "Let's go crash a party. Synchronize watches on my mark… three, two, one, mark!" A coordinated beep broke the air, thankfully not revealing their positions as Tyler's group separated itself from Sergeant Hopkins'.

The assault team made their way through the swamp while keeping one eye out to avoid the sentries, and the other to make sure they didn't step on anything alive. The going was slow, but thankfully they were able to increase their speed thanks to the rowdy partygoers making enough noise to cover whatever sounds they made. Sloppy, Tyler thought as they finally reached their assault position with a minute to spare, whereupon the group knelt down and prepared themselves to charge the enemy position.

Tyler glanced down, giving a cursory inspection to his gun to make sure that the swamp water hadn't somehow gotten into it; the rest of his team quickly finished their own inspections before focusing on the enemy ahead. Tyler glanced down and took a deep breath to calm his nerves before snapping his attention back to the camp. With his mind sharp and focused, the young officer tightened his grip on the MAG rifle.

As the group crouched there the seconds seemed to take entire minutes to roll by, driving Private Tim and Nishda into miniscule fidgets. Finally however, the silence of the swamp and the laughter of the marketers was abruptly broken by the sounds of plasma fire and high velocity rifle rounds followed by explosions at the other end of the camp. Tyler was able to see fires come alight as tents and equipment were set ablaze by the plasma rounds. The sounds of laughter became bellows and screams as the marketers struggled to understand that they were under attack.

All of this Tyler witnessed as he and his team dashed as fast as they could toward the camp. When they finally reached the rise they stepped up onto firm ground and soon began to carefully move through the tents and crates of equipment. The majority of marketers had moved to confront the suppressing unit on the other end of the camp but that didn't mean they hadn't left any men as a rear guard. A carful precaution that proved wise as the team rounded a corner and almost collided with a pair of marketers who were standing between two tents and looking off toward where the battle was.

The marketers where dressed in clothing that had clearly seen better days decades ago. A collection of ripped up coveralls, along with boots and even jackets for some lucky few who managed to get a better deal over their fellows. Completing the ensemble were bonnie hats and Kevlar vests which, if Tyler had to guess (and he'd ask Sergeant Hopkins to confirm later), were from even before the Elders arrived. In total, the pair of men holding duct-taped AK-74's could have posed a threat if they had bothered to turn around. As it was however, they didn't and thus soon felt the cold chill of carbon steel at the back of their necks, right before a knife pierced their vertebra and throats before retracting, leaving the two men to collapse onto the ground choking on their own blood. Tyler and Timothy sheathed their combat knives before bringing their MAG rifles back up and creeping forward and peeking around the corner of the next tent.

Ahead of the team was the clearing with the two cages in the middle with nine men nearby left to guard the two Vipers within. As Tyler looked for a way to sneak by them, he was dismayed to see that the only cover was from a couple of supply crates that where only good for low cover.

Sighing, Tyler turned to the human and Hound following him. "Nine tangos patrolling, no way by them either. We are going to have to take them out so let's do this quickly. Private, frag the pair closest to us, I'll do the same with another group. Wolf 2, you have to use that opportunity to get to one of those crates and cover us with your cannon as we move to secure the other one," Tyler ordered to the pair who nodded and readied themselves.

Tyler pulled a grenade from his waist and after glancing over the tent to the second nearest patrol looked back and nodded. "Ready three, two, one, Mark!" Tyler snapped as he lobbed the grenade over, joined a moment later by Private Timothy's. If the grenades had been used against XCOM operatives, who wore plenty of armor, the outdated fragmentation grenades would have been a nuisance at best, considering they were made pre-ADVENT, and so lacked the power of the more modern incarnations. The lightly armored marketers were not nearly as diligent about protection and so they paid the price.

The grenades ripped apart a wandering pair of troops, each sending their shredded bodies away in a spray of red-hot metal, charred flesh, and death, sewing confusion into the remaining five bandits and allowing Wolf 2 the precious seconds she needed to bound across the exposed ground and behind the crate giving her both some cover and a good field of fire which she didn't hesitate to utilize.

XXX

Nishda had honestly not felt so alive before in a fight! Given the amount of fights she had been in had been, this was still above and beyond what other Hounds had told her was like. Great Alphas above, this was likely much better than what her fellow pack mates experienced combined! The battles that other Hounds had told her about had them staying in the back and firing at shadows, or charging forward into a clearing and getting hammered by enemies in concealed or fortified positions and barely escaping with their lives. She had always been told that the Elders expected her kind to fight the way they wanted, which was to charge the enemy and kill them with their plasma cannons. The same cannons that had a rather disturbing tendency to break if they took any fire (or a glare from their user) and break in the exploding type of way. Above all, the Elders and ADVENT officers over her species had always stated that she was never to engage in melee combat with enemy forces and instead get close and hit them at point blank range with the cannon while attracting fire away from her allies, in effect acting as a cheap bullet sponge.

The commander of the 77th HVG had done almost the exact opposite. Firstly, he had asked for Hounds in a recon job as opposed to the assault roles they had always been ordered to. He had also kept them back behind cover and used their cannons not as close quarter weapons, but as suppressive fire support. Now she was laying down fire upon panicking enemies from behind the crate and allowing her allies to advance and get behind the crate to the left of hers.

As Nishda prepared to fire again her sights focused on two enemies out in the open that were scrambling to get behind a tent on the left side of the clearing. Focusing on the fleeing targets, she fired a quick pair of bursts, catching one man in the chest, the plasma all but making him explode in a shower of flash cooked blood. The second burst caught the other in the left leg, sending him to the ground with one less appendage but causing the other two shots in the burst to fly harmlessly over the targets head.

Growling in frustration at missing, Nishda adjusted her sights upon the downed form of the screaming man and fired a single shot that hit the man in the chest silencing him. It was only once he was dead that Nishda's ears picked up the sounds of a charging enemy closing on her allies flank.

Turning her head she saw a single man rush from a collection of tents behind them and charge toward the crouched forms of her two human teammates, too busy exchanging fire with the last three enemies to notice. The man held a long blade that Nishda recognized as a machete and knew that if he got close, that the weapon could do a lot of damage to her fellow soldiers. So without thinking, Nishda dashed toward the man and tackled him from the side, sending the man skidding to the ground not four feet from her allies' position. Not allowing the man a chance to get up, Nishda stepped forward before reaching down and clamping her jaws around the man's head before giving it a pull, ripping it off in a bloody mess before throwing it away into the tents from which the man had come.

It was only after she had done this that she realized what she had just done and slowly turned to her allies and seeing them both staring at her and making her aware that she was now covered in blood. Internally she began panicking, she had just broken her species rules of engagement that they had been given by the Elders and engaged an enemy in melee. Worse, she had killed a human in a rather gruesome manner, she had in front of her two members of the same species, and one of them was her superior officer at the time! _"This is it they're going to shoot me dead right here, no, they're going to report me to the Elders and then"_ she thought before she was interrupted by Private Timothy.

"Bad fucking ass!" the man replied with a grin before leaning out of cover and killing another enemy with a well-placed shot.

"Excellent kill Wolf 2! Keep up the pressure!" Major Harrington praised before firing at one of the two remaining enemies who were attempting to flee.

Nishda stood there and mentally did a double take. _"Did they… just praise me?"_ she thought before a shout from her commander broke her from her thoughts.

"Enemy is retreating, private, knock out that HVT! We won't be alone here for long!" Tyler ordered as Timothy nodded and dashed toward the cage holding the Cannibal followed by Tyler and Nishda.

When they reached the cage Raynais was not pleased to see them. **"Filthy ADVENT! Stay away and leave me alone!"** she hissed at them in xeno before Timothy cut her off, jabbing her with his stun lancer and knocking her out as several hundred thousand volts of electricity ripped through her body. Tyler wasted no time and quickly shot the lock off of the cage with his MAG rifle before proceeding to the second cage while Nishda crouched down and allowed Private Timothy to lift the unconscious Viper onto her back.

As he did so, Nishda glanced around and saw that their plan working without a hitch, and couldn't help but be optimistic and her next thoughts personified that. This is the best mission EVER!

XXX

Tyler shot off the lock to the second cage containing their mystery Viper, who despite all the firing and explosions was still coiled as tightly as possible with her head down and her arms covering her face.

 **"Ma'am, we have to go!"** Tyler shouted, opening the cage door and approaching her.

"Please don't hurt me! Stay away!" the hysterical viper shouted trembling and obviously not aware that they were here to save her.

Deciding on another tactic, Tyler crouched down next to her while removing his helmet and delicately rubbed the fringe of her hood, a method he had learned from his early years interacting with the Viper soldiers patrolling his neighborhood. This had an immediate effect as the Viper's shivering stopped and she slowly lowered her arms away from her face and could now lock eyes with Tyler. As scared amber eyes met reassuring and caring golden ones, Tyler again addressed the Viper this time in xeno. "Ma'am, I'm Major Tyler R. Harrington of the 77th Human Volunteer Group. I'm not going to hurt you and am here to get you out of here. To do that however, I am going to need you to follow me now and leave this camp. Once we get back to a base, we can get you a hot shower and clean those wounds okay?"

The Viper gazed into the humans eyes and slowly nodded before uncoiling and shakily rising to her full height which was just shorter than Tyler. The two quickly moved out of the cage and where soon joined by Private Timothy and Nishda who was carrying the unconscious Raynais. As the team regrouped, the sounds of approaching men reached them apparently having been alerted to their presence. "Hostiles inbound, recommend exfil ASAP!" Hopkins said over their radio, the sharp cracks of his heavily modified (and likely illegal) M39 EMR filling the air. "Sam, grab that rifle from the dead fucker on the stump, I want it before it gets blown to all hell."

Tyler checked the time on his helmets display and cursed. "We have less than a minute before strike, team ignore the enemy and the rifle, and haul ass NOW!" Tyler exclaimed as the group dashed back the way they had come. The group however was slowed down by the fact that the female Viper was wounded and not as fast as she would otherwise be thanks to malnutrition and general fatigue.

When the sound of bullets whizzing by them, Tyler immediately reacted. "Wolf 2, keep going with both of them! Private, fall back, suppressive leapfrog!" Tyler ordered as he went down into a crouch and fired his MAG rifle at the emerging forms of marketers chasing them.

"Set!" Timothy relayed before Tyler quickly rose from his position and dashed passed Timothy who had begun to lay down suppressing fire.

Tyler reloaded before finding a spot twenty yards behind Timothy and crouched down, turning back toward the enemy. "Set!" he relayed and opened fire as he saw Timothy stand up and retreat past him. His shots were meant to suppress the enemy, but ended up also killing two men who ran out in front of his line of fire. Another fell down to the ground a sharp crack whizzed by Tyler's head.

As he continued firing he heard Timothy report, "Set!" and began his retreat. This process repeated twice before Tyler glanced down at his clock and realized with a start that he had a whole seven seconds to cover the last eighty yards out of the range of the airstrike. "Private haul ass NOW!" Tyler shouted as the pair abandoned all attempts at suppressive fire and sprinted as fast as their augmented bodies could allow. The two reached the swamp's edge just as a light appeared in the sky directly above the camp. "Get down!" Tyler shouted as he and Timothy threw themselves into the murky swamp water.

Behind them the camp exploded as a large beam of light shot down from the heavens like the wrath of an angry god, temporarily turning night into day and obliterating the area in an explosion that bent the trees standing around the area back and creating five foot waves of swamp water. After a few seconds Tyler and Timothy surfaced and coughed out what water they had in their lungs before looking back at the remains of a smoldering camp site. Tyler gave a small sigh of relief. "Damn, didn't think that ADVENT HIGHCOM would use a god damn orbital strike on the camp," he coughed out as he tried to regain his breath.

"Seems a bit like overkill sir," Timothy added to which Tyler nodded in agreement as the pair finished regaining their breath. As they did Tyler noticed Nishda making her way to them along with the mystery Viper and a still unconscious Raynais from further back in the swamp.

Keying his comm bead Tyler connected with the suppressing unit. "Sergeant, report," he ordered Hopkins, wanting to know their status.

"Pretty peachy here sir, minus the whole, you know, Hammer of Dawn show there," Hopkins replied somewhat un-professionally, but likely a result of the close call. "No casualties, and we still got that rifle. Pity we couldn't grab whatever Intel they had though.

Private Tim sighed. "'There is no "overkill." There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload," sir," he answered in defeat.

"Good to hear Sergeant, I doubt anything survived that blast so clear that campsite and call in for extraction. Besides, whatever intel they might have had would've been garbage anyway by now," he replied and after receiving an affirmative from the other end, turned his attention to the mystery Viper whose eyes where flickering from him to the remains of the camp and back likely realizing how close she had come to losing her life from friendly fire. "So," Tyler said, capturing her attention. "Mind telling me your name ma'am?" he asked removing his helmet and extending his hand in greeting.

The Viper chuckled shakily before extending her own hand and capturing his. "Hissa, Dr. Hissa."

 **And that is a wrap! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! So a few big developments first the introduction of a new species known as the Hounds and finally we get to see some of the men in the 77** **th** **HVG. For those of you wondering the Hound species, Raynais and Hopkins are not my creations and instead belong to spartanrex10, DragonBreeder123, and Dr1ft3r0I respectively.**

 **Vantage:** Anyway for today's info dump let me introduce you all to Edith an Ethereal and the person who will be doing the info dumps from now on.

 **Edith:** Hello Everyone! My name's Edith like vantage said and from now on I'll be doing the information sessions or as vantage so rudely calls them info dumps. But what can you expect from an uneducated human.

 **Vantage:** I also forgot to mention that Edith here is a recent graduated from the Ethereal Academy aboard the Mother ship and is doing this as a way to establish herself as a serious researcher in human phycology and culture. Please bear with her.

 **Edith:** Hey what is that supposed to mean?!

 **Vantage:** Nothing now get on with the session.

Edith: Fine! Anyway today we will be discussing the ADVENT species known as the Hounds.

You see the Hounds are a militaristic race dead set on their traditions they have retained despite their ascension thanks to the elders. They once lived on a lush forest world in various tribes before a series of large wildfires destroyed almost all the planet's surface and vastly changed the eco-system. With much of their natural prey dead the ADVENT uplifted them as refugees and through the use of gene-tampering have curbed much of their appetite and allowing them to eat a larger verity of foods.

Much of the Hounds culture remains as they are a relatively new race of ADVENT being saved only 50 years before the invasion of Earth. Their Government and tribal class system for instance still remains and functions much like that of a wolf pack on earth with a tribe being led by a large male Alpha and keeping away from other 'packs'. Directly below the Alpha is the Beta male a sort of second in command as well as enforcer to the pack. These two classes form the ruling classes of Hound society with other classes below them being either Warriors or Hunters. Warriors are bulkier hounds that are noticeably stronger and are used to patrol pack borders and fight other packs. Hunters on the other hand are the providers and are the ones to bring down prey and return with its meet to the pack. In Hound culture females serve no role in the higher classes only being allowed to be either of the Warrior or Hunters classes. They can also hold no position of power with the Alpha female only gaining the perk of never being allowed to mate with anyone other than the Alpha Male. Other females on the other hand can be mated by any male that defeats them in combat and so it is customary for the losing side of a pack war to lose almost all its females' overtime to lost battles and eventually die out.

Currently the fact that the Hounds are a recent addition to the ADVENT cause makes them heavily looked down upon by other races. Hound culture is also on the decline because of the loss of many Alpha's over the years due to its long time spent in space and lowered birthrate of males. Nor many can be found on the battlefield, as many are kept as pets, or slaves. Most hounds are females, but there are still male hounds, and while hounds resemble wolves, they're actually larger and are reported more 'ferial' looking. If beaten in battle, a hound will willingly accept death. But if they're taken prisoner, they'll offer themselves as slaves to the person who beat them. Whether that be as a guardian dog, a warrior/hunter, or a sex slave for an Alpha.

On the battlefield, they use a self-mounted plasma cannon that's linked into their nervous system; letting them control it with their minds. Otherwise, it can go into an auto mode that is similar to the more bulky and stationary Advent turrets. The turret on top of the back of a hound comes in two variety's a middle to long range or a close range variant. The long to mid-range one fires concentrated blasts of plasma while the other close range variant fires a scattered shot of alloy pellets in a similar way to the conceptualized XCOM alloy cannon. While more streamlined and elegant, the turret is more prone to battle damage, and it's not uncommon for a hound to lose their turret mid battle.

They are mostly spread out with other battalions and are mostly scouts, and are considered glass cannons. They are often found in pairs of two or four. The only battalion that consists of mainly hounds is the scouting regiment. The scouting regiment consists of 50 Advent troopers, 5 Advent trooper officers, and 200 hounds. Thus making the scouting regiment the largest concentration of hounds within the entire Sacellum.

 **Vantage:** Well thank you for that enlightening talk Edith.

 **Edith:** It was my pleasure Vantage! I can't wait for our next session and remember if you have any questions feel free to ask me in a review and Edith will do her best to answer them as best she can! After all I'm here to help you all in any possible way.

 **Vantage:** Well the innuendo is strong in this one.

 **Edith:** huh?

 **Vantage:** Nothing, anyway until next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!

 **Edith:** Bye!


	4. Chapter 4: Birth of The Dragon

**Harem List: ? (Female Viper), ? (Female Viper), ? (Female Ethereal), ? (Female Hound), ? (Chryssalids Queen).**

 **If you want the harem list to include something leave it in a review and I will consider it.**

Chapter 4: Birth of "The Dragon"

Personal Log of Major Harrington, T, 77th HVG

XXX Entry: 014 XXX

The Cannibal mission went as well as it could have gone, even better considering the circumstances. The second Viper turned out to be a Dr. Hissa, a Viper regarded as one of the leading minds in experimental gene-therapy. Suffice to say, ADVENT High Command was extremely thankful for her safe return. They seemed to ignore the fact that they almost killed her with an orbital strike, so I wasn't too happy at the praise. Still, despite being shook up from the ordeal, she was very thankful for the rescue and I even gave her my personal number if she needed to talk. Sadly, that was the highlight of the day as after she boarded a dropship to return to her nest in West Africa, the rest of the day turned bad for us almost immediately.

As we landed in Tampa Bay to drop off Raynais, she was taken by members of the Specials. The Specials were elite forces under the direct command of the Elders, and fittingly nicknamed the Elder's Hand. Nobody really knows what they do, but we do know that they are composed of multiple ADVENT units, are given the best tech, and refusing them is tantamount to refusing the Elders themselves. So with little choice, I was forced to hand Raynais over to them.

I know it was a play to downgrade the 77th's involvement in the capture, but it ended up backfiring on them spectacularly. Not only did Raynais get captured by XCOM after the group ambushed the Specials convoy, but public outcry had found out that the 77th originally captured her and were demanding to know why we couldn't have been her security detail. The Speaker had to save face and stated that the 77th didn't have the necessary resources at the time to undertake such an effort after capturing her. I knew it was bullshit, my men knew it was bullshit (especially Hopkins. If he thinks he can hide that smug sense of satisfaction at seeing the Speaker apologize, he's wrong), and the Speaker knew it was bullshit. Still, the people bought it and quieted down.

Dr. Hissa ended up calling me a few times for some small talk, and I was glad to hear she was doing fine back in her home nest. Apparently, Hissa was from a Viper nest in Mauritania, Africa. The nest, like most nests, was a place for Vipers to have their young and was usually guarded by units of the Viper Legion. Because of the demand for soldiers by ADVENT, the nests only served as housing for civilians and pregnant mothers or mothers with very young Vipers. Thanks to there being few to no Viper males left, at least to Dr. Hissa and I's knowledge, almost all Vipers are artificially conceived with artificial semen created with the DNA of one Viper, and injected into the womb of the mother-to-be. In other words, if it wasn't for gene-therapy, the Viper race likely would be in a very sharp downward spiral instead of the current gradual decline in numbers. I'll be honest, despite the morbid chats about fertility and genetic drift and its consequences across multiple generations in a genetically stagnant environment, I rather enjoyed our chats.

The good side to this was that ADVENT High Command was cornered into sending us more resources to show the public that the "oversight" was being corrected. This has so far allowed me to continue the rebirth of the 77th and finish a little project up in the hangers.

XX End Entry XX

It had been five months since Operation: SILENT SERPENT, and finally Tyler could see his base beginning to look like a proper headquarters. In the first two months, the 77th had received thirty additional combat recruits who immediately began the four month training process before they were ready for active duty. Now that they had enough members, Tyler happily established the 77th HVG's first official company known as Alpha. They still had twenty spots vacant, but those would be filled up when the thirty new recruits finished their training and became rookies.

During the third and fourth months, the engineers where able to get the Science Wing and the Foundry completed and brought online. Though most of the science wing was still being cleared, they did have space for an experimental warfare room; said room was quickly finished, and they now had a fully stocked medical bay. Tyler was excited with the completion of these facilities, as it allowed him to begin putting the finishing touches on a project he had been working to bolster the units strength.

Speaking of bolstering the unit's strength, Tyler had also started two additional training courses for veteran members: the Advanced CQC class, and the Officer Training course. Tyler himself taught the officer training class, having completed it himself during his initial ADVENT training. The CQC class was taught by a couple of former SAS veterans who Tyler contracted to help. The courses were optional, but he and a number of others had immediately decided to undertake it. The unit had also received seven new dropships, bringing their total up to ten. Three of them were indisposed of at the moment because of Tyler's pet project. Tyler had also had finally decided on promoting Jack Abrams, a highly qualified blond haired giant of a man from Texas to Captain and put him in charge of Alpha Company. Jack was apparently a descendent of General Creighton Abrams, who had the United States' premier main battle tank named after him.

It was during the fifth month that things began to really happen. Firstly was the arrival of an additional forty recruits which was fortuitous, as it was only a day after the previous thirty recruits had finished their training and become rookies who were now just waiting to be placed in a squad. Now with sixty men ready for combat operations, and another forty coming down the pipe in four months, Tyler was beginning to get the necessary paperwork done to establish the 77th HVG's Bravo Company. He had already decided to promote Sergeant Major Daniel Lawrence, who currently ran Alpha Company's first squad to be the captain of Bravo. Now he was trying to fill out a number of the squad leader positions and was making some headway.

In particular, Tyler was looking at one Sergeant Gabriel Hopkins.

Tyler was going to be honest with himself, Hopkins was, at best, a bit of a loose cannon. Between his still existing negative remarks about the Administration, to the way he handled Alpha Three's Fire-team Charlie, to simply the fact that it was obvious that Hopkins had yet to fully respect him, Tyler, from a purely logical perspective, had little reason to promote him. However, much of the younger enlisted staff enjoyed him, viewing him as something a gruff uncle-like figure, and since Hopkins had taken quite a bit of time away from coordinating supplies, repairing the ship, and training with his own team to handle the new rookies training, well….

Tyler sighed. He didn't have many other options, and frankly, considering Hopkins' age and… unique view on things, he could use him in an advisory capacity if he wasn't too busy.

The next afternoon, he received a call from his head avionics engineer to come down to the hanger bay. As Tyler walked down the metal hallways of the ship toward the hanger bay, he couldn't help but notice with a bit of pride that much of the patchwork metal walls, ceiling, and floor had been repaired and was now polished smooth like one would find in an undamaged ADVENT ship. Still though, Tyler knew that while the upper decks had been mostly finished, the lower decks where another story entirely with some areas even having holes to the outside. Still, the engineers had told them that in three or four months, they could get the lower decks at least safe and patch up the holes.

Tyler emerged from his thoughts as he passed through a series of large blast doors that opened for him as he approached, revealing the large stadium like hanger bay. The work on the hanger bay had been the primary focus of the engineering department at Tyler's behest, and was located just below the flight deck. From the flight deck, aircraft could land on the landing pads before the entire pad lowered down on a sloped rail into the hanger bay with a pair of reinforced doors closing the hatch above them. Once down in the hanger bay, maintenance crews and armament personnel could service the aircraft giving repairs and rearming the craft, had the regular dropship been designed for carrying munitions. The hanger bay had ten landing pads, as well as three octagon-like structures running down the middle length of the room which were the primary elevators that could bring up soldiers for boarding, or weapons and equipment for the ships. All of this was monitored by the control tower from the far end of the hanger bay where operators coordinated maintenance teams to the various areas.

Tyler's attention was captured by the craft on three of the closest landing pads. Tyler knew that they used to be regular ADVENT dropships, but looking at them now, one would be hard pressed to see it. The general shape of the craft reminded Tyler of the Mi-28 Havoc attack helicopter, however, instead of the rotor blades, the craft was kept aloft by the same four thrusters the ADVENT dropships had. The entire craft was still made out of same alloy that ADVENT dropships where made of, but painted black with the units emblem painted on the crafts tail, along with the ADVENT symbol just behind the canopy. This aircraft Tyler knew was the project he was most excited about, the creation of the first ADVENT gunship called the Viking. Tyler had thought up the creation of such a craft after seeing that ADVENT had no aircraft capable of significant air to ground capability short of an orbital strike. Those that did were scout ships that could make passing strafing attacks that where either ineffective, or not suitable for close air support. With the addition of the Viking, Tyler could avoid being blasted to kingdom come by an orbital strike like what almost happened in SILENT SERPENT.

"Magnificent aren't they?"

Tyler smiled before approaching the man responsible for building the gunships, a smile on his face as he shook the man's hand. "Felix, are they really finished? I expected the work to take another two months!" Tyler exclaimed as turned his head to look at the gunships again.

Felix nodded before looking at the three gunships. "Ci, most of the work was just fitting the weapon and various countermeasures in. That was actually the hardest part, other than that it was mostly removing the excess space taken up by the cargo area and fixing the wings. Throw in the external hard points on the wings and some extra sensors and armor, and they're ready to go."

Tyler nodded pleased. "What kind of damage can they do?" he asked.

"Mucho," Felix laughed before pointing to the aircraft. "Underneath the nose, we have the new MAG Cannon operated by the pilot. The cannon can swivel using the same helmet mounted system as the old AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, making this cannon's effective range at roughly three miles away. Any farther and it will lose some penetration, but until we get the approval for plasma weaponry, that's what we got. Under the wings we have some surplus Hydra 70 rocket pods that Sergeant Hopkins was kind enough to procure for us, and they fire nineteen rockets each, and finally four AGM-114 Hellfire missiles per wing. Senor, you must thank Sergeant Hopkins for me, without him, well, I probably would have had to design several systems from scratch. Defensively, the Vikings have armor ranging from only five centimeters to twenty close to the engine block and ammunition store for the cannon. The countermeasures include ECM, chaff, and flares. Altogether, a very nasty close air support machine," Felix finished explaining with pride.

Tyler nodded, impressed. "Good, I've heard that the pilots have been looking forward to flying it, though it leaves us with only four available pilots to fly the dropships considering each craft needs a pilot and RIO. I've already sent a request for more pilots to ADVENT High Command and they tell me to expect another three by the end of the month," he said. Felix nodded before a chirp from Tyler's pager attracted their attention. Tyler glanced down at the message before frowning. "Message from HIGHCOM, I have to get to the communications room. Make sure those birds are ready to go Felix," he quipped before walking out the hanger to the CIC. When he finally accessed the communications room, one of the officers at a terminal saw him and pointed him toward one of the larger consoles in the back. Reaching the console in question, he saw the message and cursed as a new mission had just been given to him apparently. "Well, I know what I'm doing tomorrow," Tyler muttered in resignation before leaving the room to make preparations.

XX Cà Mau, Vietnam XX

XX August 21, 2029 XX

Dr. Hissa sighed as she finished examining another pregnant Viper only a few weeks away from laying a set of three eggs. "Everything looks good, from what I can tell the genetic material appears to be stable for all three of them. You'll be happy to hear that you'll have three healthy young ones soon," she told the expecting mother who hissed happily in joy.

Hissa couldn't blame her. Because of the lack of male Vipers, and the increased frequency of gene-modification, their species was finding reproduction a very dangerous road. Because of the various gene-modifications done to members of their race during their time in the folds of the ADVENT Administration, predicting their effect on any offspring was almost impossible and often left newborns unhealthy physically after their birth. Secondly, the lack of males meant that reproduction was done artificially using the DNA of another Viper with enough genetic diversity to allow for a live birth. This process was hard enough as it was, because not only did it leave many Vipers lonely while struggling to raise their young, but finding Viper DNA that was genetically different enough was becoming very difficult with how genetically similar they were as a species after decades of being without males, and with ADVENT's increasing need of their species in their war against the human rebels.

It was because of this reproductive funk that the Viper species was in that specialists like her were desperately needed in the many Viper nests around the world to help expecting nest mothers. The nests were modestly large complexes that usually resided in small towns, as mothers wanted to be away from the crowded and noisy bustle of the cities. Because all expecting mothers were sent to these places, they were guarded by spare soldiers from the Viper Legion; recent casualties however had drastically the number of guards at each nest, as far as Hissa could tell. Never the less, it was in one such nest that Hissa now worked at, the complex located in what was once a country called Vietnam.

So it was as Hissa watched her patient leave, thinking about using the couple of minutes she had between now and her next patient to get a snack when she felt and heard the explosion.

XX 77th HVG Headquarters XX

"Fucking hell Hopkins, are you trying to make my life more difficult?!" Tyler shouted in his office as he nursed a growing headache. Just a few minutes ago, Tyler had given Operation BADGER to Sergeant Hopkins, who then went and got his team custom armor and weapons that where all non-standard issue. It wasn't the fact that they were not standard issue that angered Tyler: it was the fact that Hopkins had done all of this without approving it with him beforehand.

The man was essentially going on an official mission using weapons and gear taken from the enemy. If anyone saw him and his squad's gear, they would come to the conclusion that XCOM and terrorist forces had better weapons than ADVENT. A fact that would anger his superiors, who would then make their anger apparent to him and make his life as difficult as possible, likely doing everything they could to hamper his rebuilding of the 77th HVG. Tyler also knew that the 77th couldn't afford that kind of hampering at this stage, as it would likely end up with his men and women getting killed via lack of equipment.

Still though, Hopkins did have a few good points in regards to the maroon color scheme of their armor, but that was because the 77th HVG was meant as a QRF and assault force, not the stealth recon missions they had been given thus far. Perhaps he could spend some resources into researching some specialized armor for such missions?

As Tyler contemplated this new line of thought his attention was grabbed by the beep of his personal holo-pad, alerting him he had received a message. Tyler grabbed the holo-pad and opened the text message form Hissa, if the sender ID was correct.

"Help." That was all that was said. No explanation or any other words were sent. The one was all Tyler needed.

Unlike the rest of the 77th's combat personnel, Captains and above were allowed to keep their armor and weapons in their rooms, which explained how Tyler was out and fully armed in just a couple of minutes and sprinting toward the CIC. Upon entering, Tyler immediately made his way to the holo-table where the Normandy beach was displayed, the icons depicting Sergeant Hopkins, his men, and Oddball flashing in the space above it. "Bring up the area west of Cà Mau, Vietnam on the table now!" Tyler shouted, grabbing the entire bridge crew's attention.

The technicians worked flawlessly despite the suddenness of his entrance and soon an image of the small city, a large dome like complex about a mile west of the city which Tyler knew was a Viper nest. The only problem was the fires around the dome and the white fog dispersed around the area and seeping from the holes in the structure. "Jesus," Tyler heard somebody say in the room and couldn't help but agree with the statement; but he had to focus right now.

"Who do we have on standby for backing up Operation BADGER?" Tyler asked.

One of the technicians looked at his screen before replying. "We have the rest of Sergeant Hopkins' old squad Alpha Three, as well as two fire teams from Alpha One who were going to help secure the area once the mission was complete," the technician relayed.

"Tell the Alpha One fire teams to scramble and meet me in the hanger. Give Old Dog command of Vikings One and Two and advise him that he will be without support for now! Get Alpha squads Three and Four suited up in case they're needed! Have the CIC switch its focus to this new attack and start scanning the area, and get me more information as we respond. Also, somebody get a hold of any nearby ADVENT units and advise them to respond as well, I'm deploying with our forces," Tyler ordered before leaving the CIC and quickly making his way to the hanger bay where one of the three operational dropships with pilots waited, the engines hot and ready to go.

"Quarter master, outfit the Alpha fire teams with gas masks and full body armor!" Tyler ordered before adding, "Also, have one of them bring me my own damn mask as well." Tyler made his way to the awaiting dropship and sat in one of its seats while he waited for the other men. As he waited, he pulled his holo-pad from underneath his armor and sent a message back after running the numbers through his head.

The message was short. "ETA 20 minutes."

XXXXX

Hissa wondered if she had offended some god recently, as for the second time this year, she was now in mortal danger. The Viper was taking cover behind a pillar as bullets impacted against it, sending bits of concrete and debris flying. Around her were what was left of the Legion defenders, a scant nine sisters and herself the only thing standing between the advancing enemy and the remaining eggs, young, and pregnant mothers. Hissa hissed angrily at the thought of how many where already killed from the extremists and their weapons.

The worst part wasn't the bullets, or even the melee weapons the enemy brought that butchered any who they could get to. No, it was the strange white fog that the extremists had deployed throughout the area that left all who breathed its fumes gagging in pain before suffocating to death. Thankfully, there were still some areas where the gas hadn't drifted to like where they were now. The only problem now was the approaching extremists that were hell bent on finishing them off.

The pregnant mothers, young vipers, and what eggs they could get where all huddled behind a low lying wall behind her, the remaining Legion sisters in various places of cover trying to return fire upon the extremists, an endeavor that was hard to do as demonstrated when one of her sisters tried to fire upon the enemy, but was gunned down by the constant hail of lead that the extremists rained down on them.

"Come on Tyler, where are you?" Hissa quietly hissed to herself before she blindly fired around her cover with the plasma pistol she had taken from one of her dead sisters.

"Where is the unit from Saigon?!" Hissed one of her sisters nearby over the sounds of gunfire. Hissa couldn't see her because of the darkening sky, and the only illumination being from the various fires around them and the streaks of their cheaply made plasma rifles.

Hissa knew that the ADVENT unit in Saigon could have been there within five minutes at the worst of times. Since it was now twenty minutes into this particular layer of hell, she suspected that they were either already deployed, or were letting the attack take place as a slight to her species. After all, the ADVENT unit in Saigon was a Muton led force. "I do not know! I contacted a friend of mine, and he was scrambling to get here! He should be here any minute now!" Hissa responded loud enough to give the rest of her sisters the hope of reinforcements.

"He? They are not a Viper? What non-Viper unit would come help us?" Another of her sisters asked in disbelief.

"Major Tyler Harrington of the 77th Human Volunteer Group!" Hissa reported as she fired a few shots into the rebels again.

"The HVG?!" One of her sister exclaimed in despair. "They're a joke! Are they even operational?!" she asked.

"They captured the Cannibal!" Hissa snapped, defending her friend's unit.

"After she was already captured by glorified pirates, and even then, they were supported by an orbital strike!" the Viper shot back.

"Do you see anyone else coming to save us?!" Hissa angrily hissed at her sister who withered at the glare she was sending.

"W-what about the 3rd Viper Core, Commander Vissta's unit?!" Another Viper asked, this time one of the civilians.

"She is all the way in Europe, I doubt she even knows about this attack yet," Hissa replied somberly.

"Mother are we going to die?" asked a very young Viper to her mother who held her trembling form close.

The young Viper's words chilled the civilians and their defenders at the gut wrenching question. The young one's mother hugged her daughter closer to her. "No dear, Dr. Hissa and the nice sisters over there are going to protect us," she told her young daughter.

"But the solders in the back are from XCOM, I heard from one of the guards that they are really scary," the young Viper stated. Hissa sucked in a breath at the young ones words. While the majority of their attackers where ragtag extremists, at the very back of the group was a squad of six XCOM operatives that watched the battle, a few of them laughing at the sight of the dead and dying Vipers, shouting encouraging words to their comrades.

The young Viper's mother hesitated before trying to smile encouragingly to her offspring. "Don't worry child, you heard Dr. Hissa, she has a friend that is coming to help us. He'll be here soon little one, don't worry," the mother said as she brought her daughter in for a hug.

Hissa sighed hoping that the mother was right before continuing to hold back their attackers.

XX ADVENT EUROCOM, Rome, Italy XX

"WHY AM I ONLY HEARING ABOUT THIS NOW?!" Commander Vissta demanded in outrage at her communications officer. Just a few minutes ago, the officer had told her that a Viper nest had come under attack by extremists and XCOM forces. Moreover, she learned that this attack had started twenty-five minutes ago and nobody nearby had responded. The nearby unit in Saigon had given some pitiful excuse that they were conducting operations to their north, but Vissta knew that the area in question hadn't had any extremist activity in months. It was obvious the Muton officer had no intention of helping those 'beneath him'.

"Get a strike team mobilized now!" Vissta demanded, sending the officer scrambling to fulfill her orders. Vissta hissed in anger, knowing that even if she left right then at top speed, it would take her at least an hour and a half.

"Commander, I'm detecting two contacts approaching the area at high speed," her sensors officer announced from her station.

"What are they?" Vissta asked, her heart beating rapidly in concern.

"One of them is an ADVENT dropship, the other though is similar, but its profile and signature are vastly different," the officer replied trying to understand what her sensors where picking up.

"Are they transmitting an IFF? What is their unit designation?" Vissta demanded, her eyes narrowing.

The officer adjusted her sensors settings before her eyes widened in surprise and confusion. "Commander, the drop ship's IFF states that's it's a 77th HVG dropship. The unknown contact is also broadcasting a 77th HVG signature," she responded.

Vissta for her part was confused. The 77th HVG was all the way in Australia, why where they responding to a threat outside their area of responsibility? She doubted that they had been ordered to, considering she was just learning about the attack and the Elder's likely hadn't been informed of the situation yet. The only conclusion that she could think up was that Major Harrington had learned about the attack and immediately scrambled to assist, which honestly was welcome news considering he was now in a position to be the first responder to such an emergency. Considering his unit had been allowed a chance to recover based on her endorsement alone, and was now the first unit to respond to the situation, well, it would put herself in a positive light for overall control of her species.

" _Now they just need to hold them off until I arrive"_ Vissta thought before one of her officers told her that a strike unit was assembled and awaiting her. Wasting no time, the Viper Commander made her way to her dropship, fully intending to either help the 77th in rescuing her sisters or cleaning up any extremist stragglers after they finished off the 77th and the remaining Vipers. Vissta prayed for the first option while preparing for the second, her clawed hand sliding in an enhanced power cell for her plasma rifle.

XXXXX

Hissa ducked down behind a low wall as more rounds began to be directed toward her. The enemy was only fifty or so yards away from their position, and what little cover she and her sisters had was being rapidly chipped away at under the withering fire. The defenders were down to herself and seven others as another of her sisters had been wounded by enemy fire. Hissa glanced around her cover and saw the enemy steadily advancing toward them while under the cover of two XCOM operatives with heavy machine guns. She sighed knowing there was little hope for their situation. That was, until she heard the telltale whine of a drop ship. Turning to the south, she saw two objects approaching their position and knew based on what direction they came who it was.

"He's here!"

Meanwhile, across the area was the squad of six XCOM operatives. The two heavy weapons specialists were keeping any of the Vipers from moving out of their cover, while the team's sniper and two combat engineers where cheering on the local resistance cell forces that where pushing toward the last pocket of resistance. At the very back of the group was a lone rookie who couldn't help but look at what his squad mates and the resistance were doing in disgust.

Nick Lancer had joined XCOM fairly recently, and had yet to be promoted; hell, he didn't even have a specialty yet! From the start of this mission Nick had been wondering why he was here. At first, XCOM had been contacted by a resistance cell in the area saying that they needed help in attacking an ADVENT facility that was impeding their operational capability. Central had agreed and he had been put with the new Bear squad. Their members included the leader and primary heavy weapons specialist Grizzly, Black Bear their marksman, Polar the secondary heavy, and the two combat engineers, Red Panda and Kuala.

Nick had to resist telling them that neither the red panda nor the koala were actually related to more intimidating named ursine soldiers.

Since they had landed, they had managed to sneak past the ADVENT patrols and planted explosives, while also covering the resistance fighters while they placed their own bombs. Once that was done, they had pulled back and set off the explosives. That was where Nick believed the issues began. He quickly noticed that the bombs that the resistance had were some type of chemical weapon that suffocated any who breathed the gas. Secondly, he also noticed the facility was lightly defended for an ADVENT facility, making him believe that it wasn't capable of really impeding the resistance cell from doing anything at all. The final nail in the coffin was when he saw the bodies of very small Vipers and smashed eggs alongside unarmed Vipers who wore no armor. It was then he realized that the facility was a Viper nest, and that they were using chemical weapons on a civilian target.

He had radioed Central and told him the news; he too was appalled at the act and had ordered an extraction for the team. Now the team was waiting for extract, or more accurately, he was waiting for extraction. The rest of his team was cheering on the resistance members and were enjoying the show as Grizzly stated proudly. When he got back to the Avenger, he was going to request a transfer to a new squad. There was no way in Hell that Nick wanted to be a part of a team as heartless and ruthless as Bear.

It was at this thought that Nick heard the sounds of something approaching the area. "Hey, I hear something!" Nick shouted. The rest of his team paused and listened.

"Eh, just an ADVENT drop ship, we can handle whatever poor sods are in it. Central, we have audio contact with an ADVENT drop ship, anything we have to worry about?" Grizzly asked, his tone overly casual for the situation.

"This is Central, be advised, we are detecting two airborne contacts heading toward your AO from the south, one of them is coming in low and fast, get ready for whatever troops it deploys," Central reported from the control of the Avenger.

Grizzly chuckled. "Alright, looks like we get some action before the Sky Ranger gets here," he said, hefting his cannon. As the team readied themselves along with the resistance cell units, they heard the contact nearing them from behind a smoke cloud. "Remember," Grizzly gave out some last minute advice to his squad and the resistance forces nearby, "Don't worry about the drop ship itself, it doesn't have any weapons, just focus fire on the troops that jump out." Grizzly's jovial attitude died in his throat at what emerged through the smoke, billowing away like a curtain revealing the form that hovered toward them barely twenty feet of the ground.

The craft sounded like a drop ship and glinted in the light from the fires, thanks to its alien alloyed hull. However, that was where the similarities ended. Firstly, the tinted canopy looked a lot bigger than normal. The cargo bay was gone, the space given to a much slimmer looking armored hull. The entire thing looked similar in shape to the love child of an attack helicopter and the world's ugliest ass wasp from Hell. The most important thing they noticed, however, was the rocket pods and gun mounted under its wings and nose respectively.

"GUNSHIP!" Nick shouted before he leapt to the ground along with the rest of the XCOM team. The resistance cell forces didn't heed the call and instead chose to open fire at the ship. It was the last decision they ever made as the gunship let loose with a volley of rockets as it simultaneously fired the MAG cannon underneath its nose letting loose with a veritable hailstorm of hypersonic ten millimeter exploding rounds. The rockets streaked and exploded amidst the middle of the resistance cell and blew ten of their number to pieces, while the MAG cannon shredded, mulched, and otherwise turned five more into finely diced salsa in an instant.

XXXXX

"This is Viking Three, engaging hostile forces, over," the pilot for the lone Viking reported to the drop ship's occupants who were still approaching from the south.

"Sensors confirmed, civilians and friendly forces are cornered by thirty plus hostile contacts and won't hold out for much longer. Viking Three has already engaged the enemy," the officer back aboard the battleship told Tyler from the CIC. "We have confirmed the presence of chemical weapons at the site, and believe it to be a refined form of phosgene. No other nearby ADVENT units are responding to the threat, so you will be the first responders. We have gotten word that the Third Viper Core has responded, but they are more than an hour and a half away. You are the only unit close by that can save those civilians!" the controller told them with conviction.

Tyler nodded from where he stood at the opening of the dropship's hatch before flipping a small lever. With a rush of cool air, the hatch door opened, allowing the dropship's occupants to see the approaching battle area. Tyler took a quick glance at the AO before deciding on a course of action.

"Okay, listen up! Our gunship is ripping into the enemies ranks, but we need to separate the enemy's frontline and our friendlies! You will be doing a fast drop under fire, so hit the ground running! Remember, our objective is to get those civilians to safety! Get Ready!" Tyler yelled as the ten men behind him readied themselves to leap out the hatch as Tyler stepped aside.

Tyler glanced out the hatch and saw the battlefield approaching quickly. As the ship soared over the heads of everyone already on the ground, Tyler gave the signal. "Go, go, go!" he yelled as the ten troopers ran forward, leaping out the dropship and to the ground fifteen feet below.

XXXXX

From where she was near her sisters, Hissa stared in awe at the strange craft that was ripping into the terrorists ranks with it cannon and rockets. Never before had she seen an ADVENT craft like it, and if it wasn't for the 77th HVG's emblem on the side, she would have assumed it to be some secret tech of the Specials division.

"W-what is that?!" One of her sisters hissed in shock.

Before anyone could answer her, a noise behind them attracted their attention. Turning around, they all collectively hissed in surprise as an ADVENT dropship soared above them quickly before ten human sized objects leaped out and landed just in front of their position. The objects revealed themselves to be soldiers in maroon red armor, armed with MAG rifles.

The troopers hit the ground in a roll, their gene-modified bodies allowing them to feel little to no pain in the maneuver. As the ten men sprang up, they were already pouring fire into the enemy's ranks, sprinting forward into cover. Suddenly the Viper's comms came to life with the new voices of the troopers.

"Fire Team Two, secure left flank, Fire Three, secure right. Fire Team One, on me, suppressive fire!" came the squad leader's voice as the squad split into three fire-teams and formed a defensive line, shredding the enemy's forces with a wall of hypersonic 9.5mm, hollow-point rounds.

Hissa smiled before turning to her sisters. "This, is the unit that I was talking about."

XXXXX

From his position in the dropship, Tyler issued orders to Alpha One's squad leader as he circled the AO. As he observed the battle below, Alpha One pushed the enemy forces back, steadily depleting their numbers with the help of Viking Three. Suddenly a burst of heavy machinegun fire streaked from behind the terrorist's lines, the angry red tracers impacting the gunship hard, making it wobble slightly.

"Viking Three, taking fire!" the gunship's pilot reported as he banked away to escape taking any more damage.

Tyler leaned out of the hatch and saw with his improved eyesight the forms of six troopers with distinctive emblems on their sleeves. "XCOM!" Tyler snarled as he saw five of them begin to fire upon Alpha One, forcing the troopers to take cover while a sixth man ran back and shot off a blue flare into the sky. Deciding that he was finished with merely observing, Tyler turned to the pilot, his face grim and foreboding.

XXXXX

Nick knew that this mission was officially FUBAR. The arrival of the gunship had effectively ended the mission, especially when it started devastating the resistance forces, and left only a third of their number alive. That number was then further reduced by the ten troopers that had leapt from a low flying dropship and began to spray fire into the remaining resistance units with lethal accuracy. Despite the fact that the rest of Bear team had driven off the gunship, and now where pinning down the advancing troopers with the help of their team's heavies, Nick had went ahead and signaled the Skyranger for an emergency evac.

As Nick saw the approaching Skyranger, he turned back toward his squad. "Let's go, evac is here!" he shouted, though it seemed the rest of his squad wasn't listening. Grizzly was laughing as he riddled the enemy's position with his heavy machine gun, the rest of Bear squad next to him firing into the positions of the new arrivals, their higher positions allowing them clear lines of fire into the enemy, pinning them down. A sound off to Nicks left caused him to turn and see the dropship approaching again. "That thing has more people in it?!" Nick asked in surprise. However, he was even more surprised to see only a single ADVENT officer jump from the craft and right toward his squad below, oblivious to the danger.

"Heads up, above you!" Nick called out in warning as he began to sprint back toward his squad.

It seemed somebody heard his warning, as both Red Panda and Koala looked upward, but by then it was too late. The descending officer let loose a burst from a MAG rifle that he held in his left hand, the bullets ripping into Kuala mercilessly. The man was dead before he hit the ground, bits of what little remained of his Kevlar armor flying off. Red Panda began to lift his rifle, the shock evident in his eyes as the ADVENT officer landed on him, driving him to the ground before a blade pierced his cranium with a wet squelch.

Tyler withdrew his kukri from the dead XCOM member, taking a moment to flick off a bit of skull and brain matter. Bringing the blade up to his mouth, he clenched down on the back of the blade with his teeth, freeing his right hand to grab a grenade on his right hip. Through sheer luck, he had landed right in the middle of the XCOM operatives, allowing him not only the advantage of surprise, but that of being able to hit every single one of them. Currently, there was a female sniper directly in front of him rapidly backing away in fright, and the last two on either side of him turning to see the commotion, both of whom were carrying the heavy machine guns that attempted to damage his Viking.

"YOU!"

Tyler glanced over and saw the same soldier from the attack back in Texas, and immediately recognized him. _"Well, looks like it's time to settle old scores"_ Tyler thought as he immediately lobbed the grenade in his hands toward the sniper in front of him, causing her to yelp and leap away as Tyler himself dashed toward the heavy on his right. The grenade went off with thunderous boom and wash of heat, but Tyler trusted his armor to protect him from the worst of the fragments coming his way. The XCOM sniper had managed to leap into a ditch, which ended up saving her life as the blast washed right over her. The bulky armor of the two heavies and lone ADVENT soldier ended up more than sufficient to shield them, as they were at the limit of the grenade's blast radius.

From where he was, Nick watched in stunned disbelief as the enemy officer clutched the blade in his teeth and charged toward Polar, firing his MAG rifle with both hands, the burst slamming into man's chest. Polar began to fall forward, only to be thrown back by a near-perfect linebacker tackle, landing on Grizzly a full ten feet away. Grizzly was forced to push his dead comrade's body off of him, and once he did, could only watch as his enemy used the distraction to rapidly close the distance between them.

Grizzly growled as he locked eyes with Tyler, angry brown eyes meeting glinting gold before Grizzly brought his machinegun around, hoping to try and spray the charging man at point blank range. However, he misjudged just how fast the gene-modified soldier was, and Tyler swiftly kicked the gun's barrel away from him just as it fired. The sudden change in aim sent the bullets astray, clipping Black Bear as she was rose from cover, and almost hitting Nick, who saw the danger and slid behind cover just in time.

Nick rose from his temporary cover and dashed to Black Bear, the woman screaming bloody murder at the pain caused by the two rounds in her chest and hip. Without a moment of hesitation, Nick picked up the screaming woman and carried her to the evac point, the newly arrived Skyranger lowering the rope for them. As Nick clipped Black Bear and himself onto the rope, he glanced back to the fight between Grizzly and the ADVENT officer. The scene that unfolded before him would stay locked in his memory for the rest of his life.

Grizzly was down on his knees, clutching a wound in his chest caused by the kukri that Tyler had just removed from the squad leader's gut. Behind the pair, the burning remains of the Viper nest bathed the area in a hellish light, reminding Nick of a cover of a long-since canceled video game. As Nick looked on, his attention was drawn to the ADVENT officer who clutched Grizzly's head, the man's golden eyes standing out even from where Nick stood. The Advent officer clutched Grizzly's head and slowly brought his big ass knife up to the XCOM operative's throat.

"Payback," Tyler hissed before swiping the blade across the man's throat, savagely sending blood splattering on his face and armor before Grizzly's half decapitated body fell to the side. Tyler glanced over and saw the two surviving XCOM operatives being hoisted up into a hovering aircraft. Knowing that Viking Three was off station and damaged, Tyler was forced to watch them escape, but not before locking eyes with the uninjured man clutching his injured comrade.

Nick shuddered as he met the golden eyes of the enemy officer whose blood smeared face and armor only proved to enhance his ferocious appearance, even as he stood before a pillar of debris and fire surrounded by the dead bodies of Bear squad. The whole scene only served to imprint itself into Nicks mind as one of the few times in his life when he truly feared someone, the whole scene being recorded from Nick's communications headset and broadcasted live to a slack jawed Bradford and the rest of the staff on the Avenger's bridge. As he was pulled into the Skyranger, Nick noticed a golden emblem on the man's shoulder depicting a golden dragon which fit the man perfectly, with his golden eyes staring hatefully at Nick while he clutched his MAG Rifle and blade, the edge of which still coated in and dripping Grizzly's blood. All the while, flames flickered behind him as the remaining resistance forces were killed by the maroon armored troopers. This was the scene Nick and XCOM saw before the Skyranger's ramp closed and Firebrand shot off at top speed.

And so it was that the legend of 'The Dragon' began.

XX One Hour Later XX

Tyler sat where he was overseeing the clean-up of the AO. Alpha one was utilizing their armor to travel into the chemical clouds and retrieve the bodies of viper civilians and legionaries. So far the body count had reached one hundred eighty and that was just the civilians. Of that number thirty six where pregnant mothers and forty children. They had also accounted for sixteen dead legionnaires and hadn't been able to account for all the smashed eggs yet though Tyler hoped there wouldn't be that many considering that the nest was a small one compared to those in Europe and America.

Nearby where he sat was the group of Vipers they had managed to rescue composing of five pregnant mothers, four mothers who were chaperoning the seven children and four eggs they had managed to save. Then there was Dr. Hissa herself and a handful of Legionnaires that had survived the attack. Two of the children in the group had in fact been rescued by Alpha One as they swept the area for survivors a fact that made Tyler happy he made the decision to immediately begin rescue ops instead of waiting for backup. The area they were now all in was a clearing a little away from the nest itself so they were clear of the chemical clouds and was also large enough for dropships to land in. A fact that made Tyler happy as he saw the approaching dropships of the 3rd Viper Core.

Lighting a flare Tyler signaled a drop zone for the ten craft which quickly set down before discouraging their occupants. The sheer amount of Vipers that disembarked from the craft told Tyler that Vissta had sent as many as she could on short notice and as he saw the viper herself get out of the lead dropship he decided to meet the Commander herself.

"Commander Vissta!" Tyler called over to the Viper who was issuing orders to her forces.

Vissta heard her name called and turned to see Major Harrington himself approaching her position. "Major Harrington status report!" She immediately ordered with a raised hiss. She internally winced as the greeting came off sounding far more aggressive and threatening than she intended toward the man who had arrived to help her people.

To his credit the Major didn't miss a beat and stood at attention while placing his fist over his heart in the ADVENT salute. "Ma'am, all enemy forces have been eradicated or forced to retreat. Surviving civilians and Legionnaires have been moved to this clearing. Currently I have a squad of men conducting rescue operations to find any additional survivors but so far little luck. There is also a substantial amount of chemical gas in the area and I would advise caution to your troops who don't have proper protective gear, ma'am!" Tyler advised her as his superior officer.

Vissta hesitated "Chemical gas?" she asked wanting a better explanation.

"Ma'am a chemical weapon we believe to be a customized form of phosgene. It's a gas that upon inhalation can cause suffocation. I would advise the use of rebreathers and gas masks or something else to protect the eyes, mouth, and nose. Afterward a decontamination bath would also be advised." Tyler elaborated.

Hissa hissed angrily at the description of a weapon used upon her people. "Casualties?" she asked while inwardly dreading the answer. Behind her she knew that her troops were also listening in worry.

Tyler's face hardened "Ma'am, I'm sorry to report that by the time my forces arrived we could only save twenty one civilians and a handful of Legionnaires. The rest are dead or MIA and presumed dead. I have my squad is still searching for bodies." Tyler reported.

Hissa almost slumped in shock at the loss of so many of her potential sisters but her training as an ADVENT officer and position as the Commander of her unit who were behind her motivated her to hide her anguish. She did however allow a furious hiss to escape her jaws as a fire lite behind her eyes. "Enemy casualties?" she hissed out in anger.

"Thirty four enemy KIA including four XCOM operators. Two XCOM units managed to escape in an aircraft." Tyler replied.

Vissta's anger disappeared only to be replaced by disbelief and surprise "You mean to tell me your unit killed almost a full XCOM squad as well as thirty extremists by yourselves?! How many casualties did you suffer?"

"No casualties among my troops ma'am." Tyler reported proudly at relaying his men's excellent performance. Vissta for her part, could only stare in shock at the human before her even as her assembled troops began whispering words of disbelief from behind her.

"It's true Commander Vissta" the voice of Dr. Hissa spoke up from where she slithered over toward them along with the other survivors. "You should have seen it the 77ths troops chewed through the extremist's ranks like they were target practice! You should have seen that aircraft Major Harrington deployed I never saw anything like it!" Hissa reported happily.

Vissta suddenly remembered the strange aircraft her sensors officer detected and turned toward Tyler "Aircraft?"

Tyler nodded before activating his comm bead "Viking Three move to my position."

Soon a whine was heard and Vissta saw the form of a strange customized dropship appear over their clearing. "Ma'am, may I present the Viking Gunship. It's a customized dropship with advanced sensors and instead of a cargo area we removed it to make room for weapons systems like the MAG cannon beneath the nose, and the AGMs and rocket pods under the wings. We are still working out a few kinks but as its deployment here showed it is very effective at air to ground operations." Tyler reported.

As Vissta gazed at the craft she quickly analyzed it and couldn't help but marvel at the concept of the craft. For the most part ground battles in ADVENT's mind where decided by troopers on the ground who could call in hard hitting but inaccurate airstrikes from fast moving interceptors but where mostly reliant on themselves to win the battle. This Viking Gunship however could bring in heavy firepower quickly to the battlefield and deploy accurate heavy support fire and as shown today could do so in close proximity to allied forces.

Maybe these humans did have something to contribute to the ADVENT cause.

 **Aaannnndddd chapter!**

 **Vantage:** Well hope you all enjoyed chapter four next time we will hear some of the larger consequences of this mission along with the one on the Normandy coast. Oh and Edith I think you wanted to tha-

 **Edith:** Hello everyone are you ready for another info session with me Edith your lovely ethereal professor!

 **Vantage:** sure just go ahead and cut me off…

 **Edith:** anyway today we are going to talk about the composition of the 77th HVG, in other words what is the ranking system like and so on.

Okay first let's start with some general info. The 77th HVG is a unit composed of all humans currently so there are no aliens amongst their number however they employ both male and female humans. The 77th is actually composed of four different branches those being the Support branch, the Engineering branch, the Science branch and the Military branch. The Support branch is where all of the support staff like sensors and communications specialists go. They also are made up of civilian and military contractors that do jobs like cooking, custodial, and office work. They are the people to help in the logistical side of the 77th and help keep the base running smoothly.

 **Vantage:** Translation, they're the people that do all the boring shit that nobody else wants to do.

 **Edith:** Hey shut up it's my lesson! Anyway the next is the engineering branch that help maintain and repair the base, maintain equipment and vehicles, and even staff the foundry and create new weapons and armor! They are made up of both civilians and military personnel but are vital in bringing the 77th HVG back to the battlefield. The science branch however is where the real magic happens!

 **Vantage:** _*cough*_ bias _*cough*_

 **Edith:** You should get that looked at in the medical wing which by the way is part of the science branch. The science branch does all medical facilities on the base as well as make new scientific breakthroughs in their labs that can lead to better equipment and technology for the military branch! Now all we need is a gene-lab and we'll really be cooking!

Anyway all of these three branches are in direct support of the Military branch who are the soldiers, officers, and pilots of the 77th HVG. They are also in charge of policing the base and have general authority on all activities done by the other branches. All of these branches have an individual called the section head which is in charge of all operations in that branch but are all section heads are under the military section head, who of course is Tyler Harrington the unit's commanding officer.

Now let's focus more on the military branch and the ranks. First is the smallest unit size is a fire-team composed of three-four members those being two privates and a Sergeant with the exception to a command fire-team which has four members and also includes a Sergeant Major.

The next unit size is the squad which is composed of ten men split into three fire-teams of three, three, and four. The four man fire-team is the squad leader's fire team and has the usual two privates and the Sergeant but also the Sergeant Major who is the squad leader.

The next unit size in the company composed of five squads and led by a Captain who is part of the command squad. The command squad is usually the first squad in the company for example Alpha Company's command squad is Alpha One.

Whenever an issue appears amongst the midst of a company between privates it's handled by their sergeant who report to their Sergeant Major who report to the Captain. Captains report directly to Tyler and are positions of equal value to a section head of one of the other branches. Since there is a set number of Company's there is also a set number of each rank in the system and thus a clear hierarchy for soldiers to follow.

 **Vantage:** but wait if there is a set number of positions for each rank then how can one get promoted unless an existing officer dies?

 **Edith:** excellent question Vantage! Promotions are done differently than in the old world militaries. Firstly instead of a new rank a soldier that receives accolades for his/her actions gets a set annual pay raise depending on the action. This pay raise is permanent and can function as an unofficial way of ranking amongst the soldiers. This method was developed by ADVENT HQ for all ADVENT units and is universally accepted with the exception of the Chrysalids who function as a hive mind and don't need ranks.

 **Vantage:** Well it looks like that's all the time we have. Remember if there is something you want the next information session to discuss tell we in a review or a PM and we will take the most popular or whatever one Edith feels like doing. So until next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!

 **Edith:** Bye!


	5. Chapter 5: The Coming Storm

**So some quick Q &A before we begin:**

 **From: Guest**

 **Quick question: at the beginning of the battle, is said "Viking Three Engaging" but then immediately there was "Viking ONE has engaged the enemy" so which is it? Just to be clear, this is after the XCOM guy screamed "GUNSHIP!"**

 **Thanks for pointing that out fixed it.**

 **From: Gibson1014**

 **The biggest question I have at this point is how many time do you think that you will update each story in the span of each month?**

 **I want to do at least two. It would be more but as I will state in the bottom of the Chapter I'm moving very soon and having to get a new job as well so… life commitments. Don't working I am working to free myself from my mortal body which should free my need to sleep/eat/have commitments. Until then though this is our reality.**

 **From: Cghdeadpool**

 **I love how the gunship looks like a mi-24 havoc and I have a couple of questions, first one wasn't the cobra attack helicopter the first one to have that kind of headset not judging or anything just wondering.**

 **Second question who are you going to pair first Tyler and Vissta or Tyler and Hissa?**

 **Third and final question is there at least a possibility that there will be going to be a tank modeled after a T-90S?**

 **Well firstly yes the cobra (or apache, not to sure which) have it but since neither government is around to keep up patents so why the hell wouldn't they add that system into the gunships? Secondly Hissa will be interacting more with Tyler so she will likely be first. Thirdly no, deploying heavy armor would be very taxing on the 77th which is basically a unit dedicated to a QRF role. Instead they will have a form of light armor but you'll have to wait and see to find out.**

Chapter 5: The Coming Storm

XX Entry # 15 XX

Classified Sensitive, Non-Critical

XXX

Sometimes, I seriously question the effectiveness of ADVENT peacekeeping forces. The fact that one of the ten Viper nests on the planet was attacked in broad daylight without warning is bad enough, but the fact that the nearby unit didn't even respond because of what species was being attacked? That was unacceptable. I personally wanted to fly over to the nearby base and throttle the base commander, but from what I have heard that would have been a mercy to what Commander Vissta did to the Muton. Seriously, that is one scary Viper when she's pissed.

After Commander Vissta and the 3rd Viper Core had finished securing the site, Alpha One and I returned to base for some much needed rest. A few days later, word of what happened reached just about every city in the world. The 77th was receiving some media attention as a result of our actions instead of our unit's appearance. Vissta herself even declared a personal debt to the 77th; I honestly have a few ideas to cash that favor in.

Anyway, Hopkins came in a few days later to talk about the Vietnam fiasco, and then had the audacity to question me about how I engaged the XCOM squad. I swear, it's like he forgot that they were shooting defenseless civilians or something. He even drank some of my brandy! Though he was right when he said it was a bad year, I'll see to getting some better quality stuff later.

Anyway, the situation with Hopkins boils down to the simple fact that he views ADVENT and the races under its banner as the enemy. He sees how the human culture is being assimilated into the ADVENT fold and feels that our human heritage is being destroyed in the process. He, and people like him, want to go back to the same culture and society as we had before ADVENT took over. They fail to see the harsh truth that staring at them in the face.

Human culture and society will NEVER go back to what it was. Both were always doomed to die when humanity encountered alien life, the fact that our first contact was with a collection of races that had us beat numerically and technologically only cemented that fact as firmly as the absolving of our worlds governments.

So no, there is no going back to the world before ADVENT. What can be done however, is to shape what kind of society and culture we as humanity can have as part of a collection of races under one banner. That is my goal as the leader of the 77th HVG. I need to incorporate human tools and customs into my unit and combine it with ADVENT's to create a unit that can be as powerful as any other ADVENT unit, but still retain our human identity. If I can do both of these, I am certain others will follow my example. Commander Vissta's interest in the Viking Gunship is proof that even aliens can see the benefit behind some human ideas and practices.

If only I can get more people to see that. Oh well, something to keep working at I guess.

Major Tyler R. Harrington, 77th HVG, ADVENT.

XX End Entry XX

XX Location Unknown XX

 **"The entire Viper nest is being moved to a new location and have requested to be moved adjacent to the 77th HVG base"** one of the elders projected to its fellows.

 **"They do not feel safe near unfamiliar ADVENT units. Considering what happened with the local unit stationed nearby at their old site, their request is rather reasonable"** another commented.

 **"Still, the importance of this request and the reason for it should not be lost to any of us"** the lead Elder announced, drawing its fellow's attention to it. **"When it comes down to it, the 77th HVG has gained an ally in some of the Viper people, and Commander Vissta herself has stated that she owes them a debt for their role in saving the viper nest."**

One of the assembled Elders projection hovered forward. **"Then we should do what we can to mitigate the 77th's combat operations. We cannot allow a unit that we do not fully control to gain any more support."**

 **"If we do that, the Humans and Vipers would notice and question our leadership"** the lead Elder rejected. **"No, we will appear to approve of their actions while burdening them with more responsibilities. If we put enough pressure on them, they will break. Tell the Ethereals in the ADVENT High Command to increase the 77th's area of responsibility. We will also charge the 77th with protecting the Viper nest that will be built next to them. That should tie down some of their ground forces"** it announced before turning its attention to its fellows. **"Now, tell me about the recent gathering of Human military forces in the former United States."**

XX 77th HVG Base, four months after the events of Vietnam XX

"I'll make sure to provide plenty of protection until your guards are replaced," Tyler said as he walked next to a Viper outside of the 77th's base. The Viper he was conversing with was the new head of security for the nest that was being constructed outside the crashed battleship that was the 77th's base of operations.

The nest was a large, purple dome shaped building that was the same size as a small sports stadium. Tyler, however, knew that the facility was actually much bigger if you factored in that a third of it was underground for security reasons. However, while the framework itself was effectively finished, the rest of the building was still under construction and was around sixty percent complete. The reason that the building was taking so long was because of the large amount of resources that needed to be flown in via dropship. The only reason they had as much done as they did was because Commander Vissta and the 3rd Viper Core had pledged some of their own dropships to helping in the endeavor, and that Hopkins had, through some dumb stroke of luck, recruited a Muton Berserker.

Tyler had honestly not expected the 77th to be the host to a Viper nest, but shortly after the battle he was told by Vissta herself that the viper group wanted to build their new nest near the 77th HQ. When asked why, the Commander had admitted to being worried that any other unit might not protect the Vipers, much like the local Vietnam unit. Instead, she wished that the 77th could take up the job, having already proven themselves to be willing to protect her people. As a result, the new nest was being built next to the battleship where it would be protected by the ship's point defense and anti-aircraft weapons. This, however, still left the fledging nest seriously under staffed, as currently only the survivors of the Vietnam attack where housed there and thusly only a handful of Viper Legion personnel remained to guard it. This was why Tyler was promising to provide two squads to help patrol the perimeter until the new Legion members could arrive. While Tyler did not like to pin down some of his operational capability, the benefits of having a nest nearby could not be overlooked.

Firstly, protecting the Viper nest in the first place had already boosted his reputation with the Vipers in general, and now that he was volunteering to build and protect one so close to his base, the 77th's reputation was now high enough to be considered a 'good' unit by the Viper people. It was only the fact that they were not Vipers themselves and were still largely untested that prevented them from being one of the Viper people's favorite units, but Tyler knew it was only a matter of time.

Secondly, the existence of the nest nearby drew in a lot of Viper civilian interests, and plans had already begun to lay the foundations of a small town around the nest where recreational, food, housing, and other such needs would be built for families and non-combatants. This meant that soon his, his troops would have a place outside the ship to enjoy and partake in the restaurants, and more likely the bars, that were certain to spring up. Tyler hoped that this increased interaction between the two species would improve the relations between their peoples.

Finally, because of the increased importance of the 77th HVG, ADVENT High Command had allocated them additional resources that would increase his units combat capabilities overall. These resources included the expertise of an associate of Hopkins, a Viper named Val'leis; she, however, preferred to be called Valerie. A brilliant physicist and engineer, the two of them had been hard at work in the Experimental Warfare wing and had already produced some headway in developing better energy generators for the 77th's use. They had also received more dropships and pilots for the unit's air corps. They had thankfully managed to clear out the ship's old engines and now the gutted structures were being used as additional aircraft bays. The 77th could now field five of their new Viking gunships and ten dropships. They had also received additional personnel for the base who were being put to work either helping with the nest, or finishing the last repairs to the battleships systems. Soon, Tyler would only need to worry about filling in the unused spaces in the ship instead of what areas they couldn't get to.

Tyler was broken from his thoughts by the voice of the Viper addressing him. "Thank you for understanding Major. My charges will feel much more grateful under the protection of the Dragon and his men. I'll go tell them the news," she said before nodding and slithering away. That was another thing that had happened because of Vietnam. Apparently, word of him wiping out four XCOM operatives had earned him the nickname of 'The Dragon.' Tyler could honestly have worse monikers so he let the name stick.

Deciding that he had nothing further to do outside, Tyler turned and strode back to the ship in order to return to his study. As he entered the ship through a large blast door, Tyler couldn't help but marvel at the progress the engineers had made with the craft. The interior hallways now shined with a pristine silver alloy and black floor that in major areas was actually black marble. The lighting above was not too bright, yet prevalent enough to see without any problems and helped to enhance the effect of the small blue LED lights that ran the length of the ceiling on both sides of the hallway. These lights provided a calming and even soothing effect to the sight of the hall, but Tyler knew that if a red alert was sounded, those lights would turn a hellish red that would get all of the soldier's adrenaline pumping in moments.

After passing a few checkpoints, riding two elevators and passing a final checkpoint, Tyler finally arrived in his office and made his way over to the small mini-bar to the left side of the room. He had actually taken Hopkins' advice to heart and ordered some decent drinks, but they would not arrive for another month, so for now he was doing well off of mixed drinks. The one he was making currently was a family drink his father had taught him to make called a 'Dark and Stormy,' a mix of ginger beer, rum, and lime that formed a dark brown beverage under a foamy surface and chilled to perspiring along the copper cup that held it.

After taking a sip, he sighed before walking around his desk before sitting down and pulling up a holo-pad that laid there on his office desk. The holo-pad displayed all of the progress that had been made since the whole Vietnam fiasco, and Tyler wanted to commit it all to memory.

First, recruitment had sky rocketed with seventy-five new human recruits that combined with the thirty that were a few weeks away from finishing their training, would bring the 77th HVG to the full strength that Tyler had envisioned with a full four companies of troops. Still, that was months away and for now Tyler had to make do with the fully staffed Alpha and Bravo companies; so far it was working, but with the 77th's expanding area of responsibility, they would soon be stretched to their limit. Thankfully, support personnel were not in short supply and Tyler counted himself lucky in that regard.

The second point of interest were the new policies he had implemented. He had recently gone about planning out a new training regimen that he was going to implement that would make the troops of the 77th some of the most versatile units ever created. Tyler was planning to implement this new training model in a couple of months in preparation for the ADVENT inter-unit tournament coming up next year. He was hoping that the 77th would shine during this tournament, and put their naysayers down. He had also increased the pilot training program to better train pilots in operating their gunships and dropships.

Speaking of dropships and gunships, the third point on his list was the progress of the unit's air corps. Their list of aircraft had expanded to include ten dropships and five Viking gunships increasing the unit's deployment capability and firepower. The engineering department had also added new features to the craft including side guns for the dropships and air to air missile pods for the gunships. More importantly, they had created a new SCRAM jet that was powered by Hopkins' new Micro Elerium Generators that allowed the aircraft to travel at Mach 9.6, drastically reducing the time the unit took to respond to threats. Hell, with that kind of speed the 77th could deploy troops anywhere on the planet in less than two hours. So far, only some of the aircraft had been outfitted with these engines as they were still in the testing phase, but Tyler was happy to hear that thanks to ADVENT gravity dampening, the ride for occupants of the craft wasn't that bad. Most compared it to being in a roller coaster going down the first big drop.

The next area of note was in the base's development. As Tyler had noted, almost all of the interior was done with only some rooms and maintenance areas being in less than stellar condition. The 77th had also repositioned some of its point defense weapons in the surrounding landscape to cover the nest and future community. Construction of additional defense guns and even a shielding system was still in development and planning down in the Experimental War wing, and was one of the projects that the other scientists completed whilst staying out of Hopkins' way. The biggest endeavor however, was the completion of Dr. Hissa's Gene-lab.

The facility had five major rooms, a civilian gene-lab for her Viper patients that needed to be overseen by herself, an experimental lab where Hissa tested new gene-mods with sample human DNA and animals, an office where Hissa could manage her paperwork and still oversee the gene-lab, a lab that housed ten vats for soldier enhancement, and finally a medical room where patents could be moved as they were prepped for gene-therapy. The entire facility was staffed by only seven scientists who all were led by Hissa and overseen by the expert geneticist. With the facility operational, Tyler and Hissa were working out a list of gene-mods to give to the troops of the 77th.

Finally, the engineers down in the Experimental Warfare wing had come out with a few equipment improvements that Tyler was adding to the 77th's arsenal. Hopkins himself, along with Dr. Val'leis, were focusing on the improvement of the Micro Elerium Generators along with a few side projects. The other engineers had also managed to work a functional OHMD system into the unit's helmets that provided tactical, medical, and sensor data to soldiers in the field by connecting to the 77th's CIC back at base. They had also created two other armor improvements; the HMTP-Mod 0 and the M29 Magnetic Load-bearing, Light Clamps.

The HMTP-Mod 0, or the High Mobility Thruster Pack, Modification Zero, was a single backpack size thruster mounted to the back of the trooper's armor, allowing the soldier to boost to great heights or reduce their velocity when falling. It used pressurized air from the surrounding environment, and focused it into a second long burst that took a while to recharge. The M29 MLLC was a series of magnetic ports along the armor that allowed the soldier to attach weapons and extra equipment to the armor itself. The ports were located on the back left and right shoulder, front left shoulder, and the left and right hip as well, as along the lower back. The engineers had also created the M108 MGL that would, in theory, be able to launch plasma grenades in the future, as well allowing the 77th to effectively triple their grenade range and increase their accuracy if they used it in conjunction with their helmets OHMD which displayed the firing arc and estimated blast radius.

Hopkins himself had come out with a working civilian variant of his Motion Assisting Armor Frame, and was currently still developing the military variant, a project that Tyler was following closely for multiple reasons. Hopkins had also come out with a new form of ballistic gel that reduced the incoming impact of ballistic rounds. Tyler had seen the benefit of the material and lined the insides with a varying layer of half an inch to nearly three-quarters of an inch of the compound. While the gel wouldn't completely stop a round on its own, in conjunction with the ADVENT armor, it would do the job while the compound itself would greatly reduce the force a soldier would feel from large impacts. To test this, he had Hopkins wear the gel layered armor and had Ellisif punch him in the chest. Other than being thrown back nearly twenty feet and having a massive bruise on both his chest and back, Hopkins was unharmed as opposed to having his insides turned to mush, along with a very few choice words on how he was not a test dummy.

On a totally unrelated note, Hopkins was no longer allowed to drink anything from Tyler's bar without asking first.

Tyler took another sip of his drink before setting down the holo-pad and looking up into the ceiling in thought about the future. He wanted to extend his recruiting pool to include non-humans, and additionally design some weapon and armor improvements for the other ADVENT species. Plus, he also needed to work with a few of his more… personal projects. One such project was the creation of a few special operations units within the 77th that he could deploy personally, with little to no ADVENT High Command oversight. No need to let them fuck up a perfectly good op, right?

Speaking of Special Forces, Tyler realized that the mission he had sent one of his new Spec Ops squads to was about to kick off. Keying a button on his desk, Tyler spoke up. "Phantom One, this is Dragon Actual, report status, over."

After a short pause a reply came through. "This is Phantom One, we are at the AO and are ready to proceed, over."

Tyler nodded before continuing. "Understood Phantom One. You have green light for op, relay to Graveyard when mission is complete for exfil, over," he instructed.

"Phantom One confirms, commencing mission, over," the voice replied.

"Dragon out," Tyler sounded off before disconnecting the line. He knew that if anyone found out what he was doing, he could be in a lot of trouble; but the risk was well worth the reward in his opinion after all, XCOM may have been the enemy, but they had been made up of the foremost human experts at the time, and unlike the rest of the ADVENT coalition, he had no qualms about absorbing the strengths of his enemies.

"Major Harrington, the briefing is about to start. It's in the CIC's main monitor," came the voice of one of the officers in the CIC, breaking him from his thoughts.

"I'll be right there Sara. Thanks for the heads up," he replied as he sat up and made his way to the door taking his drink.

"No problem sir, see you in a few," Sara replied before hanging up just as Tyler left the room and made his way to the CIC one deck below and down a hallway.

As Tyler walked down the hall he stepped to the side to allow Ellisif to squeeze past him. The female Muton berserker huffed and nodded her head in greeting as she passed before continuing down the hall to her room. Ellisif was one of the many assets that Hopkins had picked up almost four months ago on what was supposed to be a regular supply run that turned into an assault mission against ISIS holdouts in former Iraq. During the mission, Hopkins had encountered the berserker on a rampage and was able to calm her down before the Muton in charge of her requested for Tyler to transfer her into the unit. Tyler was surprised by the request, but could definitely see the benefit of having the female juggernaut as part of the 77th's combat teams.

Tyler had then just finished up that pile of paperwork when Hopkins called in to tell him the startling news that he had found a critically wounded and pregnant Hound bleeding to death among the corpses of her former pack. Tyler had immediately boarded a dropship outfitted with the new SCRAM jets and had arrived on sight in about thirty five minutes with a medical team. They had cleaned up the area while Hopkins and Phoenix squad continued with their mission. By the end of it, they had managed to save one of the pregnant mother's pups, the mother herself, and one of her older offspring that had managed to hide away during the pack's ambush. Dr. Hissa told him that the blood he supplied for the young pup strengthened his DNA to make him hardy enough to survive the healing process, a fact that Lupa expressed her great thanks for.

And to top it all off, Hopkins still managed to bring trouble for him after he left his squad to go attack an ISIS position outside the AO by himself, without orders. As a result, he had been taken off the combat roster for a few months and command of Bravo Two was given to Sergeant Ortega.

Tyler looked up as he entered the communications center and giving a nod to the attractive blond communications officer named Sara, he made his way over to the pedestal and activated the main communications console.

Soon, Tyler found himself looking at a picture of ten sitting Ethereals he knew made up the ADVENT Council. Glancing to the left hand corner on the screen, he saw that around one hundred other officers were looking at the same view he was, likely all of the various unit commanders under the ADVENT banner.

"Officers of ADVENT," the Spokesmen announced to all the viewers. "We are on the eve of one of the last great hurdles in finally restoring true peace on this planet. As we speak, thousands of humans blinded by their fascination with the corrupt governments of the old regime are gathering on the continent of North America in a place called Yellowstone. They plan to use their combined might to launch a futile assault against our citizens!" the Spokesman announced making Tyler square his shoulder, knowing that this was likely going to be a large operation. "We, however, will not let this senseless attack on our citizens to take place and are here to organize a large force to attack these aggressors before they can launch their fiendish assaults! You all will be receiving orders to your personal Holo-pads with your assignment. We will be taking the most elite among you and ending this assault post haste. For those that are not given attack orders, do not despair and merely let these events push you to truly prove yourself to the ADVENT cause. Together, as always, we will overcome these trying times. For the Elders and the glory of the ADVENT coalition!" the Spokesman announced before the transmission was cut and a ring sounded from his holo-pad indicating a message.

Tyler raised his Holo-pad to his face before opening the message and reading his orders. As he read, he couldn't stop a grimace from forming on his face at what he was reading. Turning to one of the comms officers Tyler hailed him. "Lieutenant, relay to all combat personnel that they have a mission briefing in the ops room in fifteen minutes," Tyler said, to which the officer acknowledged before opening the battleship's comm systems and addressing the crew before relaying the information.

Tyler walked out of the comms room and down the hall to another door that led to the ops room. The ops room was the briefing room of choice for all combat missions and was arranged much like a lecture hall with raised seating for the many combat personnel facing a podium which stood solitarily in front of a TV screen that Tyler knew would display the relevant mission information along with map information.

Making his way to the podium, Tyler began tapping away on a small computer installed in the podium itself to bring up the necessary images in preparation for the briefing. The briefing room soon filled with the various combat personnel of the 77th, and after fifteen minutes Tyler saw that everyone was accounted for including Ellisif who sat near Bravo Two, or Phoenix Squad as they liked to be called.

"Settle down people," Tyler announced before waiting a couple seconds for the conversations to cease and people's attention to focus on him. When it didn't, Tyler saw Hopkins, still clad in civvies in the back near his squad, roll his eyes and clear his throat loudly. Instantly the chatter among the enlisted came to a complete and utter halt. Hopkins merely looked at Tyler and nodded for the young officer to continue.

"Thank you Sergeant Major. Ladies and gentlemen, in thirty six hours, one of the largest ADVENT operations since the initial invasion of Earth will be taking place," he announced before tapping the podium's computer and bringing up a map of the United States. "ADVENT intelligence has discovered that many former military personnel left over from the Earth's governments are gathering at Yellowstone National Park in preparation for a large scale offensive operation against one or more cities in the California Sector. We believe these cities to be San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. We believe their objective is to capture or destroy the ADVENT bases in those cities as well as the Gene-therapy centers and ADVENT administration buildings in those cities. Acting on this intelligence, the Elders themselves have deployed a large force to destroy this group before they can launch their attack. Because intelligence believes the number of hostile combatants to be around eleven thousand from various countries, ADVENT High Command has deployed not only the Specials, but also strike forces from at least fifty other ADVENT units," Tyler added, which brought a round of muttering amongst the troops at the number of ADVENT forces deployed.

Tyler raised his hand to quite the men and women down before continuing. "Now, I know you all may be surprised at the large number, but from what I can tell, the Elders want to send a message to other rebel groups around the world of the risk of crossing ADVENT. All of this is moot however, as the 77th HVG will not be taking part in this operation," Tyler commented before he was met with the angry and incensed voices of his troops.

"Yes, yes, I know some of you are disappointed, but ADVENT High Command has instead put us and many other units not participating in the operation on alert in case we are needed at Yellowstone. However, because of the sheer number of ADVENT forces involved, and our distance from the AO, we will likely not be called upon. This is no excuse for complacency! So starting tomorrow at oh-six hundred, I want all combat personnel in full combat gear and ready to scramble should the word come in. We also have reports that a typhoon is moving into the region, so I want you all to help the Vipers prepare today in case it turns south instead of hitting the Japanese coastline," Tyler ordered, receiving grudging, but understanding nods.

"With that, all personnel below squad leaders are dismissed," Tyler announced as a majority of the room got up and left leaving the officers where they sat.

Once the last enlisted man left and the door closed behind them, Tyler turned to the officers in the room. "Now, I know I'm not the only that knows this is a ploy by someone higher up the food chain to isolate the 77th HVG from any recognition, but this actually plays in to our favor," Tyler said before tapping a button making the display change to show a map of the Earth with a large red dot in the US to show the Yellowstone operation. In the back, Tyler could see Hopkins merely lift an eyebrow that said all he needed to say to the young Major.

"Despite ADVENT High Command's belief that the Yellowstone operation is the focus of the enemies' efforts, I believe Yellowstone is only a diversion for the real attack," Tyler said. "As it stands, the enemy forces have no real viable military objective for taking any of the cities in California. Even if they succeeded, they would be wiped out by ADVENT forces counterattacking with orbital support. This, combined with the fact that with so many ADVENT forces focusing on them at Yellowstone, and the likelihood that they know we are coming for them, make me believe that they are purposefully drawing our attention to Yellowstone to cover for another attack somewhere on the Asian hemisphere."

"To be fair sir, I can, and I can't believe the words coming out of my mouth, completely understand why and agree with HIGHCOM on not using the orbital bombardment ploy to hit them at Yellowstone in the first place," Hopkins interjected, much to surprise of everyone, Tyler included, in the room.

"Care to explain Sergeant Major?" Captain Abrams asked, disbelief clear in his voice. Hopkins shrugged and pointed at the map.

"Yellowstone is a dormant super-volcano," Hopkins explained. "An orbital strike of sufficient strength to wipe out the force in one blast would have a seismic impact powerful enough to trigger an eruption that would make the planned Tsar Bomba look like a cherry bomb in comparison." Hopkins paused slip a hand into his pocket and closed his eyes. "It seems wasteful, yes, but sending in this many troops will actually save lives in the long run."

Tyler nodded, impressed with the logic of Hopkins' assessment. "A very valid point Sergeant Major, I might bring that up in the after action report. Now, after examining possible objectives and opportunities for the enemy to exploit, I've come to the conclusion that the enemy's real objective is actually the ADVENT Administration building in downtown Tokyo," Tyler explained as the officers began to mutter about the news. "Their objective," Tyler continued, "Is likely two fold. Firstly, the Tokyo Administration building is also where ADVENT keeps a stockpile of nuclear ordinance left over from the old governments before it is taken to one of the nearby airports and transported off world for disposal. Because this wasn't very high on Advent HQ's priority list, there are still a number of nuclear devices there. The enemy's second objective is likely to capture Admiral Junia of the Fifth Orbital Fleet," Tyler added to a shocked group as a picture of a female Ethereal came on the screen, with the obvious exception of Hopkins.

"Junia is a rather well respected member of ADVENT's space forces, and commands a majority of the ships currently in orbit over Earth. She is also a member of the Ethereal Council and one of the few with a considerable amount of common sense and intelligence among said group. She is currently conducting an inspection of the site and is not scheduled to leave until the end of the week. If the enemy forces capture her, they can use her as a hostage and render the entirety of the 5th Fleet unable to provide assistance to our forces. They also can likely make demands from ADVENT High Command like allowing the troops in Yellowstone to escape in exchange for her safe return," Tyler explained before responding.

"Because of this intel, and ADVENT HQ's refusal to see the possibility after I informed them of it, I will be making a trip to Tokyo tomorrow in the form of a supply run. While I can't bring all of the 77th with me until I can confirm the presence of hostile forces, I will be bringing Alphas Two and Alpha Three. The rest of you will remain here in case something else comes up, or I relay back the scramble order." Tyler paused to look around the room. "If I'm right, this is going to be the most important and deadliest mission we have ever taken as a unit. It is more than likely we will take considerable losses," Tyler said morbidly. "That's why for the rest of the day, I want you to give your squad members and yourselves some R&R. Talk with any family, but maintain secrecy, I don't want ADVENT HQ learning about this and stopping our ability to scramble, or for the enemy to learn we are on to them and prepare a surprise welcome," Tyler explained before relaxing his shoulders.

"Until tomorrow, you're all dismissed, take care and enjoy the rest of the night."

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Vantage:** Aaannnddd Chapter! Man, it was a hassle getting this all typed up because of life factors. For those of you that are wondering, my family is moving soon to North Carolina and are moving out of our current house soon. This means I'm having to look for a new job as well, so that has impacted my time for writing this. That said, the next chapter and battle is almost all planed out and ready to be written, so I'll likely still be able to get it done before the end of August. That said, it's time for another of Edith's Lectures.

 **Edith:** Hello everyone! Today's topic is the 3rd Viper Core asked by The Constitutionalist!

To begin, the Third Viper Core is a large unit composed of purely Vipers based in Europe. Their area of responsibility covers much of the Western Eurasian landmass. The Third Viper Core was created after the coming of age of its commanding officer, Commander Vissta. You see, Vissta is a daughter of the former Viper Queen; along with her sister Sisstha, she is considered a contender for Queen. As such, a unit is created just for her made up of Viper's to reduce the threat of another species member killing her as a slight against the Viper people. These Vipers that make up the Core are entirely faithful to Vissta, even above their loyalty to the Elders and ADVENT. They serve as not only Vissta's military unit, but also her honor guard and handmaidens. Should Vissta take the title of Queen, they will all be likely to be given very prestigious titles and honors, and so they treat Vissta as their leader and idol. Vissta herself does not know the goals of the Elders but trusts in their leadership as of now.

The 3rd Viper Core itself is a very renowned unit, known for their combat prowess and fairness to all ADVENT and human members. Vissta herself has attained the rank of Commander, one of only ten, individuals that have that rank. This puts her authority over that of almost any other officer under the ADVENT banner, and gives her access to many resources.

The Viper Core is made up of 500 vipers spread out amongst four bases within their area of responsibility. They usually deploy in squads ranging from six to twelve, and employ plasma rifles as their weapon of choice. Their troops are all expert marksman and their accuracy is feared amongst ADVENT and Resistance forces alike. Their troops are susceptible however to melee and heavy weapons, due to their light armor that is standard issue for Vipers.

Their ranking system goes from Battle Sister (Private), Battle Mother (human NCO), and then to a Handmaiden, who report directly to Vissta and have the old military rank equivalent of captain.

The 3rd Viper Core has a staunch rivalry with that of the 2nd Viper Core and its members generally hate and despise anything that is hostile or a slight against their Commander and her honor. As per their Commander's prerogative, they are usually busy overseeing the various Viper nests around the world in the hopes of bettering their species survival and prosperity.

 **Vantage:** Excellent lesson their Edith.

 **Edith:** Thank you Vantage!

 **Vantage:** Well everyone, till next time, remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review.


	6. Chapter 6: Operation Burning Sun Part 1

**Chapter 6:**

 **Operation Burning Sun aka "The Battle of Tokyo"**

 **Part- 1**

: 25 miles South of Tokyo Japan:

The sea to the south of Tokyo was churning with fifteen foot waves with the water itself resembling an inky blackness in the night. The only way one could catch a glimpse of the turbulent water was when the sky lit up from a bright burst of lightning, splitting the cloudy sky above. In the midst of the turbulent wind, torrential rain, and blinding lightning, a pair of ADVENT gunships belonging to the 77th HVG soared through the sky at two thousand feet. Inside the dropships, the pilots eyes were glued to their control panels, making sure their altitude and positions were consistent. Behind the pilots and inside the dropships holds, the men and women of Alpha Two and Three readied their weapons and shifted nervously, trying to get themselves in the zone for what could potentially be the fight of their life.

"Dragon Flight to Tokyo Station, come in over," Tyler called again over the ADVENT communication network. For the last fifteen minutes, he had been trying to contact the ADVENT base in Tokyo, but was only met with silence and static. The presence of static itself was unusual on the ADVENT network, but Tyler believed that the heavy use of the network at Yellowstone and the typhoon that they were flying though might have contributed to the spotty comms; of course, he couldn't rule out enemy activity either.

"Pilot you see anything yet?!" Tyler shouted to the pilot in the front.

"Negative sir! Visibility is still minimal!" the pilot called back.

Tyler frowned before deciding to ready his men. "Look alive Dragoons, lock and load!" he shouted to his soldiers, all of whom stood up and primed their MAG rifles.

"Sir, Tokyo is coming into visual now!" the pilot called.

Tyler walked forward to the dropship's hatch and opened it. Immediately, he was pelted with wind and rain, but inside his armor he barely felt it. Instead, he leaned forward out the hatch and turned his head to the north as the dropships approached the city proper.

The sight that greeted his eyes let Tyler know that his earlier assumption of the enemy's objectives was correct. In front of Tyler's eyes, Tokyo was alight with small fires from numerous buildings. Down below on the streets, upturned cars and busses were strewn about having been abandoned by their owners. Nearby buildings and storefronts had their windows smashed out and large parts of some had been damaged, even from their position high in the sky the sounds of conflict reached Tyler's ears.

"Pilot, get us to the ADVENT Administration building and contact our base, tell them to scramble!" Tyler ordered.

"Comms are jammed sir, we can't reach them!" the pilot replied before an alarm sounded in the cockpit. "Missile inbound! Break, break, break!" The pilot shouted as the craft banked to the left just before said missile sailed past the fuselage. Soon, the munition was followed by numerous small arms fire that peppered the dropship. One round even punctured the bottom of the bay and barely missed a trooper before ripping through the roof.

" _That round was way too high a caliber to be small arms, they have triple A!"_ Tyler realized in his head before coming to a decision. "Get us low and below their line of fire!" he shouted. The pilot quickly complied, but for the other dropship is was too late.

Tyler saw a burst of AAA rounds hit Alpha Two's dropship, shredding both left engines into scrap metal; the loss of thrust and control soon sent the craft spinning toward the ground. Tyler glanced toward the source of the enemy fire and got a quick glimpse of a Russian Tunguska before the buildings obscured it. Tyler looked back at the other dropship just in time to see it crash in an intersection below. Thankfully, the dropship's pilot had managed to slow the craft's speed, thus the aircraft didn't explode on impact. It did however roll a few times before crashing into the side of a building before coming to a rest.

"Pilot, put us down near the crash site!" Tyler ordered. "Once we disembark, stay low and egress the AO and RTB. Once you're out of range of the jammers, order the rest of the 77th to scramble and give operational command to Captain Abrams! Also turn your radio to frequency 272.51 and issue the phrase Shadows, Foxes, and Sounds of Tokyo."

"Sir, yes sir!" the pilot shouted back before pulling the dropship low over the crash site. Behind Tyler, Alpha Three readied to rush out the door with their Major.

Tyler waited until the dropship was ten feet off the ground before shouting, "Alpha 3, let's go!" jumping out the open hatch followed by the ten man squad. Their decent was quick and their landing on the earth easy because of their gene-mods. Immediately upon landing on solid earth Alpha 3 formed a perimeter around the area leaving Tyler and two others to approach the dropships door.

Tyler wasted no time and wrenched it open only to see four groggy troopers and six unmoving bodies. Tyler and the two Alpha 3 troopers helped the four men out of the dropship and despite their landing they mostly had just bruises. The four had apparently managed to get back into their seat restraints before the crash which allowed them to survive the incident unlike their comrades.

As one of the other troopers followed Tyler into the dropships bay and began to help the disoriented men out, Tyler himself went to each body and removed a holo-tag from underneath their armor. Giving a silent prayer Tyler went to help the survivors out of the dropships and focus on the immediate situation.

After getting the four troopers out Tyler reached into his armor and pulled out a cylindrical device which upon pressing a button on the end emitted a hologram that showed a map of Tokyo and a blinking green dot that was their location. "Well at least we can see our own location" Tyler stated before examining the map and the area around them.

The dropship had crashed into the north side of the Hotel Metropolitan Edmont, north of the Imperial Palace. Knowing that the ADVENT administration building was south west of the Imperial Palace, Tyler decided from looking at the map that the best course of action would be to move south via the 401 road just to their west.

Tyler glanced down the street knowing that their entrance would likely bring some attention to them fairly soon. Tyler gathered himself up before relaying an order to his men. "Blow the wreckage, we need to move."

The men around him hesitated but ultimately knew he was correct about their situation and quickly Private Paul Disturo of Alpha 2 stepped forward and placed a plasma charge inside the wreck before signaling that the charge had a two minute timer.

"All right on me we're moving west." Tyler announced before he jogged across the street followed quickly by the now combined Alpha's two and three. The group made it across the road while keeping an eye out for enemy forces and had just reached a pedestrian foot road when the charge in the dropship went off destroying the dropship and the bodies inside in a plasma induced explosion that sounded like two trains had collided at full speed.

Tyler looked back toward the explosion before nodding his head in determination knowing the enemy wouldn't pull in vital technology from the wreck. Signaling to his men they cautiously made their way down the foot path while watching their corners and windows as they darted from cover to cover.

The group made their way down the path and emerged onto the 401 road. To the north the road went toward the waterway while to the south it headed toward the Imperial Palace. Tyler checked both directions for enemies but after not seeing any movement signaled his men to move south bound while hugging the right side of the road. As the group moved down the road Tyler finally got a chance to really look at the area around him. The street was deserted with a car every now and then having been abandoned with its doors open and some luggage still in the back. The windows of the building where mostly dark with the only the automatic neon signs and distant light from the fires providing illumination. Obviously the people living here had left in a hurry and judging by the fact that the area was completely silent other than the sounds of distant fighting the entire area was deserted with the exception of them. The rain had lightened up slightly and the sounds of raindrops impacting the cars, pavement, and rooftops helped obscure the sounds of the group's footsteps as they continued forward.

Suddenly just as they were approaching a Seven Eleven Tyler's instinct flared encouraging him to duck and roll forward just as a burst of machinegun fire passed through the area he had just vacated from a small footpath to their right. The rest of his group quickly moved to either side of the pathway and returned fire down the pathway.

Tyler leaned against the left side of the pathway before peeking around the corner and seeing a pair of soldiers about seventy-five yard down the pathway leaning out of cover and firing toward their position. Seeing their was cover more on the right side of the walkway Tyler signaled to Private Jacob Buller across from him to move up. When he saw the private nod in understanding Tyler leaned out of cover and fired a series of bursts from his MAG rifle. The bursts served to keep the enemy duo pinned down just long enough for Buller to move into the small moped garage with Sargent David Stoops and Privates Orion O'Denelli, and Paul DiSturco of Alpha 2-2.

Glancing up Tyler saw that the building attached to the moped was actually an apartment building complete with an outdoor staircase. "Sargent Stoops take your fire team and get some elevation." Tyler announced indicating to the Sargent the open apartment staircase.

Argent Stoops looked up at the staircase and nodded "2-2 on me let's see if these thrust packs can live up to the hype." Stoops announced before taking a step back and jumping upward while firing his thruster shooting him up to the stair cases third floor level where he grabbed the ledge and hoisted himself up.

As soon as he was clear the rest of his fire team followed while Tyler and Buller kept the enemy pinned down. Once the group was up they crouched down and began to fire down from their position at the pair of men from their elevated position.

The suppressive fire allowed for Tyler and the rest of the unit to advance twenty yards further down the path utilizing whatever cover they could get. Suddenly a third soldier rounded the corner with an RPG over his shoulder which he wasted no time in firing at Sargent Stoops position.

The rocket impacted the waist high concrete wall of the stairs before exploding and blowing a portion of the cover apart. "Man down!" Sargent Stoops exclaimed much to Tyler's anger.

"Fuck you!" Tyler shouted as he fired a burst of hypersonic rounds that tore into the RPG man's right shoulder, shredding it and the surrounding torso tissue and bone, dropping him instantly. The other two men retreated further back into the side parking lot they were firing from.

Tyler pulled up his tactical map again as the rest of the unit moved up and saw that the only thing up ahead was the Tokyo Daijingu shrine, a Shinto shrine dedicated to Amaterasu. However, the Shrine was on an elevated position and shouldn't be accessible from the parking lot the enemies where in. "Proceed with caution, watch your corners," Tyler ordered making the rest slow down their advance toward the enemies' position. "2-2, hold position and take care of your casualty. Keep an eye on our six," Tyler added as he joined the advancing troopers.

As the trooper on point rounded the corner to the parking lot, the two remaining men had disappeared into he jumped back as withering MG fire peppered his previous position. Tyler glanced around the corner and saw that the concrete wall separating the parking lot from the nearby shrine had a large hole in it from a previous explosion. Currently occupying said hole was a sandbagged MG nest that was holding them at bay from its position. The two soldiers that had fled had already climbed to the hole in the wall via the debris at the hole's base.

"Launcher up!" Tyler announced as Sergeant Hoch of Alpha 2-3 approached and rounded the corner before leveling her grenade launcher and firing a plasma grenade directly into the nest. The results were devastating as the nest was blown to pieces in a green explosion, with the remaining material from the sand bags catching fire or flash melting the sand into glass. Not wasting any time, Tyler decided to press the advantage and sprinted toward the wall before jumping up and using his thruster pack to propel him up and over the wall and into the shrine proper.

Tyler took in the site around him in a heartbeat, to his left where two men that where guarding the Western entrance to the shrine, to the front another pair were doing the same to the north, his right where four men two of which where the pair that fled and the other two appeared to have just stopped looting the shrine for valuables and had stepped toward the now destroyed MG nest.

Acting quickly Tyler lobbed a grenade toward the pair to his left who were closer together before charging forward toward cover and unloading his MAG rifle toward the pair to his direct front. The grenade when off killing one soldier and forcing the other to the ground while Tyler's MAG burst had clipped on soldier in the arm and sent the other into cover. All of this happened just as another two troopers successfully made it over the wall the same way Tyler himself did. The two troopers quickly dashed toward Tyler while firing full auto with their MAG rifles successfully killing the remaining soldier on Tyler's left and making the soldiers to his right get into cover.

The soldiers on the right however quickly began to attempt to gun down the two troopers from their low cover but where stopped by incoming fire from the wall hole where Alpha 2 was climbing the debris and into the shrine area. One of the soldiers was dropped by Alpha 2's fire while the other three returned fire dropping a trooper that was caught without cover.

Meanwhile the two troopers had successfully made it to Tyler who was crouching behind some fallen masonry and joined him and taking out the remaining soldier to Tyler's front with their combined fire. Tyler recognized the two as Privates Jaune Ark and Pyrrha Nikos of Alpha 3. Nodding to the two Tyler indicated the three remaining enemies near the shrine building and the three soon began firing controlled bursts into the three in synch finishing them off. Tyler, Jaune, and Pyrrha scanned the area before Tyler confirmed it clear and shouted to rally on him.

"Who did we lose?" Tyler asked Alpha 2's leader Sargent Major Jeffery Vdale.

Vdale shook his head in sadness "O'Denelli in the ally and Cost on the debris" he reported.

Tyler nodded grimly before looking to the enemy bodies "Frisk the bodies for intel. Alpha 2-1 secure the area" he ordered.

As the men quickly went about searching the bodies Tyler glanced toward them and recognized the unit emblem on the shoulder. "Russian Spetsnaz" Tyler thought now knowing the level of enemies attacking Tokyo. The presence of an entire Special Forces unit meant that the other enemy forces where likely former military and where well organized and equipped.

"Sir I got something over here!" one of Tyler's troopers announced from where they were crouched over the enemy squad leader.

Tyler approached the trooper, Private Blake Belladonna of Alpha 3, handed him a map that she had found on the enemy officers person. Tyler examined it and noticed it was a map of Tokyo, more importantly it was a map of Tokyo with the enemy's positions along with the estimated locations of ADVENT forces. "Jackpot" Tyler stated "Good find Belladonna."

Tyler examined the map and was able to piece together the enemy's strategy thanks to his years of studying tactics and strategy. By the look of it, the enemy had attacked Tokyo from the West with air cover from bombers and fighters launched from a captured Haneda Airport. They had quickly overwhelmed the bulk of the local ADVENT forces with their air superiority and had captured the ADVENT administration building that used to be the Government Office near the Tōgū Palace . However, now the remaining ADVENT forces and likely the Admiral were holding the old Imperial Palace area. The enemy, as a result, would attempt to encircle the area before launching a strong offensive from the West and stop the ADVENT forces from retreating with units to the south, east, and north. A classic hammer and anvil strategy in Tyler's opinion, but judging from the lack of enemies they had encountered, the encirclement was only half done with only advanced forces having been put in place while waiting for additional troops to secure their positions.

"How can I stop them though?" Tyler thought before he noticed two locations that could be the turning point of the battle. "Jammers" Tyler stated out loud.

"Sir?" Private Belladonna asked with confusion.

"Rally up" Tyler ordered causing all the troopers to jog up to him and form a protective ring around him while he addressed them. "All right Dragoons here's the situation. The enemy looks to be all ex-military with these guys being Spetsnaz. Their attempting to encircle ADVENT forces at the Imperial Palace thankfully this maneuver hasn't been fully completed yet. The only way we can stop them is to re-establish comms with the remaining ADVENT units at the Imperial Palace or with the rest of the 77th. To get comms working again we have to take out the enemies jammers. There are two jammers one to the south and one at the Tōkyōteishin Hospital to our South West. We are going to take out that jammer, understood Dragoons!"

"Sir, yes sir!" The unit shouted in unison as they gripped their MAG rifles harder in anticipation and determination.

Tyler nodded "Good to hear, move out!"

The unit quickly exited the Shrine complex via the North entrance and made their way south down the road before turning on another street and heading South West toward the Hospital. After ten minutes of jogging the unit saw the hospital in front of them with an antenna located on the roof which Tyler knew was the jammer. However when the unit was only a couple hundred feet away from the parking lot of the hospital Tyler saw movement in the parking lot. Signaling for everyone to take cover the group utilized a series of low concrete walls to approach and see into the parking lot.

"Umm sir is that a fucking tank?" One of the troopers from Alpha 2 asked in surprise.

"Yes, that is a fucking tank trooper" Tyler affirmed in increasing anxiety.

Indeed, sitting in the parking lot of the hospital, was a tank with accompanying infantry. Examining the tank from their position, Tyler informed those that didn't have a good line of sight over the radio of just how bad it was. "Looks like a Russian T-90 AM in over watch and with fifteen to twenty foot mobiles guarding the entrance to the hospital."

"Well Christ, what do you want us to do about that sir? We aren't exactly packing any heavy ordinance sir," Vidal said with a groan.

Tyler judged the range and gave a nod. "They're still in range of our grenade launchers and while that armor might be able to stop some of our MAG rounds, it won't react to well to concentrated plasma. I want Alpha 2-2 to take out that tank with plasma grenades, A- 2-1 and 2-3 stay here and use those grenade launchers to fire a regular grenade round into the infantry, take out as many as you can for me and Alpha 3 to reach the entrance," he instructed.

The troopers nodded and readied the launchers attached to their rifles as Tyler and Alpha 3 readied themselves for the mad dash toward the hospital. When everyone was ready, Tyler nodded before giving the signal.

"Go!"

Tyler and the rest of Alpha 3 sprinted toward the hospital at full speed, with Tyler pulling away thanks to his A-level gene-mods. At first, the enemy didn't notice them, but after a couple seconds, one of the enemy infantry spotted them and started shouting, causing the other soldiers and even the tank to begin turning their guns toward them. Thankfully, it was at that point that the grenades began to find their marks.

The first three grenades were of the freshly delivered plasma variety that all impacted the tank at roughly the same time; one slammed into the left side treads, one at the turret, and the last at the tank's center of mass. The treads immediately melted as the grenade detonated the Russian RA from underneath, immobilizing the tank. The second grenade had impacted the turret which made the side of it glow red with heat, but otherwise couldn't penetrate it, a testament to Russian tank standards. The last grenade had much the same effect as the second one did, but it had managed to destroy the tank's optics, rendering the commander, gunner, and driver blind to the world outside. So while the tank was still active, it sure as hell was not going anywhere in a hurry.

The poor bloody infantry on the other hand fared much worse. Enemy soldiers screamed in pain and fright as five grenades exploded amongst their ranks, killing around eight of them outright and injuring another three. Tyler noted with pleasure that the majority of those killed were directly between him and the hospital.

Tyler dashed forward amongst a confused enemy whilst raising his rifle and letting loose with a series of bursts at passing enemy troops. He, along with the rest of Alpha 3, managed to kill another four soldiers before they noticed the T-90AM's turret swinging toward them. Tyler deducing that the enemy gunner had recovered from the grenades, and promptly decided to utilize the turret's depleted armor and diverted his course slightly to run up alongside the tank.

When he was directly next to the vehicle, Tyler raised his rifle and fired a close range spray of automatic fire into the turret. Now, while the tank's armor would usually defeat a burst of hypersonic 9.5mm antipersonnel rounds, with its armor already softened by the incredible heat of the plasma grenades, the bullets fired from Tyler at close range ripped right through the armor and into the gunner, killing the man instantly. Deciding that the enemy was dead due to the lack of movement from the turret, Tyler gave the tank a last spray of fire to maybe kill the commander and driver before catching up to Alpha 3 who had managed to get to the hospital entrance.

The group wasted no time and breached the doors and hosing two soldiers that where jogging toward the doors to see what the issue outside was. Wasting no time Tyler and the group made their way to the staircase and began their assent toward the roof while hearing Alpha 2 outside fighting the surviving enemy infantry.

As they ascended the first three flights of six stairs and as they were nearing the final landing before the roof they suddenly took fire from the landing above. A couple rounds threw Sargent Cinder Fall to the floor before Private Ark Threw himself forward on the stairs and landing on his back before seeing the enemy soldier above them leaning over the railing. Ark fired a burst into the man's chest causing him to lean forward and plummet down the staircase all the way to the ground level where he landed with a sickening crunch.

Tyler darted over next to Cinder before calling to her "Cinder, talk to me! Are you good?!" Tyler turned her over and saw her cough before sitting up.

"I-I'm good sir, armor took the rounds," she coughed before Tyler helped her to her feet before the group continued up the stairs and toward the door on the roof. "Sergeant Major Hopkins knows his shit sir."

Tyler nodded "Damn right that gel layer in the armor probably saved you from blacking out from internal damage."

Stacking up, Tyler motioned to Private Nikos who nodded before parting the door and tossing a grenade and flashbang out the door and waited until they heard the explosion before filing out onto the roof and firing upon the three disoriented enemies and eliminating them. Scanning the area, Tyler saw it was clear and took out one of his plasma grenades, armed it, and tossed it toward the antenna's base before all of them moved back into the stairway. After a few seconds, the grenade detonated, destroying the antenna and partially lifting the communications blackout.

Suddenly Tyler's comm bead sounded out with ear splitting loudness as communications from all of Tokyo came through the net with most being garbled from the remaining jammer. What Tyler could hear didn't sound good.

" _Enemy armor attacking from Inner Circle toll road!_ "

" _Artillery get to cover!_ "

" _This is the south checkpoint we are being pushed back!_ "

" _Sniper fire! Sniper fire! Get down!_ "

" _Enemy aircraft overhead! Where is our fighter support?_ "

Similar shouts where heard before Tyler heard a female voice come over the comm net " _All stations this net clear the net! Comms are partially back up! Delik squad move south to reinforce the southern checkpoint! APC's move up and target the enemy armor with your plasma turrets! Sniper teams find and eliminate those sharp shooters!_ " The voice ordered over the comm net before coming back. " _This is Admiral Junia who took out that jammer?_ "

Tyler keyed his comm bead. "This Major Harrington, call sign Dragon, 77th HVG. We just took out an enemy jammer at Tōkyōteishin Hospital, we believe that there is another located at the Tokyo Tower, over," Tyler relayed.

" _77_ _th_ _HVG? What are doing here? No never mind more importantly how do you know this?_ " The admiral asked in suspicion.

"We were able to eliminate an enemy Special Forces unit to your north. We recovered Intel indicating the enemy is attempting to encircle your position and also the location of the jammers along with major enemy positions" Tyler answered.

" _Excellent news Major!_ " the Admirals cheer could be heard across the comm net " _Get that to me as soon as possible. But first I have an emergency mission for you_ " she ordered grimly. " _I sent a pack of hounds to the Yasukuni Shrine to destroy an enemy Artillery battery but I have not heard back from them and they left quite a while ago. Move to the shrine and take out that battery. Find and bring back that pack if you can they have served admirably thus far._ "

Tyler nodded grimly before replying "Understood Admiral, we'll get it done. Dragon out." Tyler signed out before looking at the group with him. "Come on lets regroup with Alpha 2, the fighting sounds over." The group nodded and made their way down the stairs and out of the hospital where they found Alpha 2 resting after their fight.

"Vdal repot!" Tyler called over to the Sargent Major.

"Sir all enemies down but we lost Private Ronald Allan to an enemy grenade" the man replied with a bit of sadness that was shared with Tyler when he heard the sergeant's report.

"Understood, unfortunately we are not out of the woods yet we have to move a block south to the Yasukuni Shrine and destroy an enemy artillery battery. Also keep your eyes out for a group of friendly hounds that disappeared in this area." Tyler ordered to Vdal and the other troopers who were all close enough to hear the conversation. "All right let move out!" Tyler ordered as the group all began a carful trot toward the south while keeping an eye out for enemy forces.

Halfway down the block Tyler's comm bead came in again this time with the familiar voice the dropship pilot " _Dragon Actual can you hear me? This is Kilo 2-2, come in Dragon Actual, over._ "

Tyler wasted no time in responding "Kilo 2-2 this is Dragon Actual. Short range comms are back up. What's your status? Over."

" _This is Kilo 2-2 we're inbound to the AO from the south east with a lot of pissed off Dragoons ready to kick some ass. Over_ " The dropship pilot stated, a grin audible in the transmission. " _Also be advised that the transmission you had me send was affirmed from… somebody._ "

Tyler nodded "Understood Kilo 2-2 Send orders on that transmission for Black to deploy North and A recover while Bats do what they always do. Also advise Abrams to land to the south and clear out areas to the South and East of the Imperial Palace. Advise Abrams that we have fast movers, tanks, and military spec ops in the AO. Over" Tyler relayed.

" _Understood Dragon, will relay. Kilo 2-2 out_ " the pilot signed out letting Tyler focus again at his group's current mission at hand.

As the group approached the shrine area they saw the area was blocked off by a ten foot concrete wall that surrounded the entire area. Deciding that he wanted a little more subtle approach to this target Tyler used a small burst from thruster pack to leap up and latch on to walls to and lift himself till he could just peak into the shrine proper. The sight that greeted him was not good.

The shrine itself was composed of two main areas separated by a large archway. The first area was the long concrete promenade with trees on either side. The sight of it would have been beautiful if not for the five large Chinese Type 70-I self-propelled Howitzers that where firing away from their positions along the promenade their guns pointed almost straight up and facing south east. The second area was where the shrine buildings themselves where and also hosted an area with small one story wooden structures arrayed in front of the large main building. It was behind these small structures that Tyler could make out the missing hounds.

The hounds were currently using the structures as cover from the heavy MG fire coming from a series of sandbags arrayed beneath the Archway separating the promenade from the shrine buildings. Behind the sandbags Tyler could see numerous infantry and two MG positions suppressing the hounds and keeping them from employing their deadly plasma cannons.

Deciding that all Tyler and his unit needed to do was distract the enemy so as to allow the hounds to use their cannons against the sand bags Tyler dropped down from the wall and turned before telling his group about the situation. "All right we're going to hurdle this this wall and get to cover before laying down as much suppressive fire as we can toward the enemy. Targets will be on the left in fortified sandbag bunkers, we have friendly forces to our direct front so watch your fire."

The group nodded before they all readied themselves to sprint toward the concrete wall. "Remember," Tyler began wanting to give some last minute instruction, "we only have to get their attentions so once you do stay down behind cover."

The group nodded as one before sprinting toward the wall and using their thruster packs to leap over and land inside the shrine proper. Nobody noticed their entry at first because they were so focused on the enemy already engaged with them. It wasn't until the dragoons began firing accurate bursts of hypersonic 9.5mm antipersonnel rounds into their position, killing a few of them that their presence was noted.

: Yasukuni Shrine:

: Shal's POV:

Shal was not having a good day. She had been woken up from her afternoon nap to the sounds of bombs hitting the ADVENT trooper barracks. She immediately rounded up her pack and had sprinted as fast as her four legs could carry her toward the battlefield. In the end however her pack and the other ADVENT forces had been relentlessly pushed back until they had finally been able to entrench themselves at the Imperial Palace where Admiral Junia had been able to transfer the remaining human WMD's to. They had then been fighting all day and well into the night when they started taking Artillery from the Yasukuni Shrine. Admiral Junia had sent her weary pack to destroy it as they were the only remaining ADVENT unit that was so far intact.

Shal was honestly surprised that an Ethereal much less an Admiral would trust her pack with such a critical mission. Hounds where not seen to favorably by most ADVENT leaders and few if any would allow them to carry out important tasks. This combined with the fact that they communicated by broadcasting their voice to those around them meant that many feared or outright hated her species. Her pack especially was not like by ADVENT officers and even most of her own species. Not that her pack members where unskilled mind you, instead her pack known as the Exile Pack was made as a place for freak/strange/unwanted hounds to join when no other pack would accept them. Shal herself was viewed as abnormal from her fellow hounds for having multiple personalities, three to be exact. However if one ever got past that aspect of her she was just as good as any other hound and yet nobody under the ADVENT banner had been able or willing to see her and her packs potential.

This was why Shal was very aggravated with her current situation. She and her four pack mates where taking cover behind the small structures in front of the shrine building and where unable to move because of the heavy MG and small arms fire coming at them from the entrenched enemy position under the shrine archway.

Across from the building she was crouched behind Shal saw her pack mate Ruby peak out of her own cover before ducking back as rounds whizzed by where her head had just been. "Oh come on how much ammo did these guys bring!?" Ruby shouted is exasperation at the non-stop fire from the enemy.

Even with her bloodlust as high as it was because of the battle Shal knew the enemy was just keeping them occupied until reinforcements got there to finish them off. So when she heard additional gunfire coming from their north she expected to feel the sting of bullets hit her exposed flank. Instead what she got was the sight of rounds impacting the enemy position followed by the enemy ceasing to attack her pack and focus on the gunfire's origins.

"Hit them now!" Shal shouted leaping out of cover and lining up a shot with the Plasma Cannon mounted to her back. Aiming for the left most MG position Shal fired sending the plasma round flying through the space between her and the target before impacting the nest causing it to explode killing the gunner and nearby infantry. Her shot was soon joined by four others from her pack mates that hit at various points amongst the enemy positions killing most if not all the targets.

Sensing the opportunity to finally take out the guns Shal shouted follow me and began to sprint toward the archway followed by her pack. As they were almost at the Archway an enemy soldier who had survived their attack stood up and leveled his assault rifle toward her at point blank range. However before he could fire a burst of gunfire whipped past Shal's left and punched into the man's chest cavity and ripping apart his heart dropping him.

XXX

Tyler watched as his target dropped, allowing the Hounds to leap over the enemy barricade and begin to mercilessly fire their plasma cannons into the sides of the howitzers, destroying or disabling them.

"Dragoons advance!" Tyler ordered wanting to make sure and clear the enemy positions. He and his group quickly moved forward until they were amongst the enemy fortifications. Most of the enemies they found where dead having not survived the heavy plasma rounds the hound pack had unleashed upon them. However to Tyler's right he heard one of his troopers ordering a man to stay on the ground.

Moving over to see the situation Tyler came upon a trooper of Alpha 2 pointing his gun at a man's back. The man was shouting for the trooper not to shoot him in Chinese. Tyler quickly searched the man and disarmed him before ordering the trooper to take him at gunpoint over to the side and keep him as a prisoner.

By the time this was done the rest of the area had been cleared by the other Dragoons and the Hound pack was making their way back over toward them. Tyler stepped forward to greet them and approached the lead Hound who he assumed from her stance and bearing was the pack alpha.

The Hound had snow white fur with a black highlights around her eyes, and on the tip of her tail. Her fur looked to be as soft as silk, and with a sheen that Tyler found reminiscent of the moon despite the furs dirtied appearance. Her rich emerald green eyes had slit pupils and where narrowed slightly giving her a look that seemed half angered and half calculating. Her body despite being tired was still impressive standing on four legs that made her come up to Tyler's chest. She was fairly muscular but not as much as other Hounds Tyler had seen. Instead her body was lithe, and likely built for speed and agility instead of power and durability.

"Greetings. I am Shal, Alpha of Pack Exile. I thank you for your assistance human but have to wonder what you are doing her. To whom do I address?" Shal questioned him with her mental speech, her mind reverting back to its leadership personality. If she had been able to study him a little more she may have noticed that she was not addressing some squad leader and instead was addressing a commanding officer.

As it was however she did not and so she was surprised when Tyler replied "Major Harrington, 77th HVG, call sign Dragon. Admiral Junia asked us to find you and help take out the artillery guns after you didn't report back."

Shal's mind took a second to process what he had just said before her mind came to a screeching halt. Had she really just spoken casually to a higher ranking officer? Better yet had she just done so to a fairly famous one such as the infamous Dragon? Shal knew she could be in some serious trouble now, this officer would likely not forget or forgive her lax way of addressing him. Combined with her packs failure to take out the guns in a timely manner and her packs notoriety with ADVENT officers already, he could really get her pack in some serious trouble.

Shal's internal despair only increased when she heard a mental squeal before one of her pack shot passed her and right up to Major Harrington. It was Ruby their youngest and most excitable pack member. "Oh wow you're the Dragon?! The same Dragon that rebuilt the 77th HVG from the ground up, saved a Viper nest, and whose unit has made a bunch of new weapons and technology that no other ADVENT unit has?!" Ruby asked quickly in obvious awe. Shal for her part felt the sinking feeling of despair only grow as Ruby continued to bombard the Major with questions and completely disregard protocol.

Tyler for his part was caught rather by surprise by the child like personality of the Hound in front of him.

The young she-wolf had a dark red coat that had black highlights on her tail, around her head, and paws. Her fur was longer onto her head giving her the appearance of having 'hair' which was black with red tips. It fell down her back with the bangs curling slightly towards the right. Her eyes where a bright silver with slit pupils and held a warm and caring aura to them and also a little awe as she looked up at him with an excited look. In a word she was adorable.

"Er… yes?" Tyler replied before the hounds tail began to wag in further excitement.

"Oh wow! My names Ruby and I'm super, super, SUPER excited to meet you! Can I see some of your weapons sometime?" The now identified Ruby asked in a near begging tone.

"Maybe later ok Ruby" Tyler answered, not being able to fully deny the adorable hound, before turning toward Shal. "Good job on taking those guns Shal. We need to get back to the Imperial Palace though, the Admiral is waiting."

Shal for her part was again shocked into immobility by the Major's words. She couldn't believe that the Major had congratulated her and her pack despite all that had happened during their short introduction. Shaking off the shock, Shal nodded her head "Yes we should get back soon. Follow me, my pack will lead the way" she said before turning toward the South East and trotting away followed by her pack and the dragoons of the 77th HVG.

 **End of the Battle of Tokyo Part 1**

 **Okay and that is part one of the Tokyo battle! As some of you may know this will be my last update for this fic until next year so I can focus on updating my other fics. Hope you all enjoyed and again thankyou to by beta Dr1ft3r0I for his efforts.**

 **Until next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!**


	7. Chapter 7: Operation Burning Sun Part 2

**Chapter 7:**

 **Operation Burning Sun**

 **Part 2**

Tyler sighed tiredly as he rechecked his weapon for the second time that morning. Currently, he was inside a small tent within the Imperial Palace perimeter that Admiral Junia had allocated to him. The night before, he and what remained of Alpha 2 and 3 had regrouped with the main ADVENT forces within the Imperial Palace, along with the Exile pack and their one POW. Upon arrival, they had been greeted by a very relieved Admiral Junia who had thanked them for finding her hound squad and destroying the enemy artillery. Tyler had handed her over the intel they had recovered from the spec ops squad, but before Tyler and the admiral could retreat to the command tent to plan their next move Tyler had received a burst transmission from Captain Abrams of Alpha Company that Bravo 2 had destroyed the jammer at the Tokyo Tower and that the 77th had taken heavy casualties upon their landing.

Admiral Junia had allocated three APCs to Tyler and without wait, hurried off to their south to regroup with other 77th HVG forces. Upon their arrival at Ark Hills, where Bravo 2 was holding the area for additional ADVENT units from outside the city to link up with them. There, Tyler had learned that Hopkins, along with Sergeant Ortega, had moved to investigate some activity to the west at the Hikawa Jinja shrine. Just as the remainder of Hopkins' squad relayed this, they could hear heavy gunfire coming from the direction of the shrine, and quickly soon after, the panicked cries of Ortega and an ominous red flare. Tyler and his three APC's immediately responded. What they found when they got there was chaos, as the courtyard was covered in the mutilated bodies of enemy soldiers and a heavily wounded Hopkins who looked like he had nearly had his face clawed in half, and that was without factoring in the other, more serious wound.

Tyler, as a frontline soldier at times, had seen a few ways to kill people. What had happened to Hopkins was something that would be forever ingrained into his memory. The entirety of Hopkins' chest armor on his left side was scorched at the very least. Just to the left of his heart, the man's flesh had been incinerated, leaving the charred white of exposed rib and light sheen of desperate blood plasma. Looking closely at the armor as medics attended to him, Tyler was astonished to see that besides the armor and the ballistic gel layer, Hopkins had also slipped on a Kevlar vest AND ceramic plates for protection. And those were likely the only reason he was, debatably, still alive.

At that point, reinforcements had arrived from ADVENT units outside the city and with the added security, it allowed Tyler to call in medivac for Hopkins, who was now back at the 77th base undergoing emergency treatment.

The advancing ADVENT forces had taken over with securing the areas to the south, east, and north of the Imperial Palace allowing Tyler to gather all remaining 77th HVG forces and regroup them at the palace, now that it was no longer under attack. He and the rest of his men then took a well-deserved nap until the morning when Tyler had been called by Junia to report to her command tent in combat gear to develop their next plan of action.

As Tyler finished getting his gear ready, his sharp eyes caught a shadow out of the corner of his eye near the entrance of his tent. "Report" Tyler said, already knowing who this was and was soon greeted by the form of a black armored human walking out of the shadow.

The armor that covered the man was not only midnight black, but covered every part of his body leaving nothing exposed and was laden with an armored storage compartment that Tyler knew was full of ammo and explosives. The man gave a quick salute before reporting. "Here ta give you our status update sir."

Tyler nodded before indicating the man to proceed.

"Ghost Squad, along with Foxtrot and Echo Squads, successfully inserted via stealth craft to the south and captured the nearby airfield with no casualties. We then waited for reinforcements and managed to disappear before any of them noticed us. At that point, our three squads separated and went to complete our own duties with Ghost hitting enemy spec ops units, Foxtrot securing various cultural artifacts from looting, and Echo beginning intelligence and counter intelligence efforts," the man replied with a gruff British accent.

Tyler nodded. "Good work Price, so how do you think our black ops teams did in their first emergency deployment?" he asked the leader of Ghost Squad.

Price gave a low chuckle. "Near textbook, nobody saw a damn thing."

Tyler gave a triumphant grin. "Good, I don't want to tip our hand too early. Carry on Price, this battle's not over yet."

"You got it sir" Prices voice replied even as the man cloaked his armor again and left the area while avoiding detection from any of the nearby ADVENT troops.

Tyler got up from where he was sitting and made his way out of the tent and toward Junia's command tent. Along the way, Tyler thought about the conversation he had just had with Price and remembered his decision to create a secret branch of the 77th. Initially, Tyler had meant the black ops division to be his personal squad, but he quickly realized that it would be more beneficially to have a team of troopers that he could deploy without the oversight of ADVENT command. Command had already demonstrated a level of incompetence that Tyler found abhorrent, and their stifling of resources to the 77th had forced Tyler to the conclusion that if he had wanted to make the 77th one of the best units in the ADVENT command structure, he would have to take matters into his own hands.

His first order of business was contacting Richard Price, an old friend of the family and former British SAS. The man was officially retired from the military however he was having trouble adjusting to civilian life under ADVENT leadership. When Tyler had contacted him and after meeting and an explanation of what his plans where Price had agreed to head up one such group before telling Tyler he would contact him again after he finished setting up a staging area. It was just before Tyler had saved the Viper nest that he had been called by Price to inform him that he and some of his old trusted comrades had established a base of operations in the Philippines and were ready to begin operations.

Despite the fact that he now had access to his own black ops unit, Tyler knew that he needed to get his hands on some top line gear in order to avoid detections from the Elders or ADVENT, however he had been stumped on how to accomplish this before remembering the old XCOM base that ADVENT had destroyed during the initial invasion. The area was now within ADVENT controlled territory and since its location was no longer a secret no XCOM or resistance forces had dared to search it. ADVENT forces likewise had not bothered to clear out the base as most simply viewed the technology their as laughable compared to that of ADVENT and so the base stood there in shambles with nobody willing to shift through the wreckage to see what's left.

Tyler had relayed his instructions to Price to infiltrate and search the base while he was responding to the attack on the Viper nest. The plan had gone off without a hitch as the commotion of the attack on the nest and the resistance's use of chemical weapons had helped distract ADVENT from any strange activity at the old XCOM site. Tyler hadn't planned this last part, but was no less thankful for the unexpected boon.

The raid had gone off better than Tyler could dream as the team had shifted some rubble and found areas that ADVENT forces had thought destroyed. From these areas, the team had recovered schematics, research notes, and a few raw materials that they had brought back to their base. The only thing stopping them from creating some of the inventions was finding an expert in alien technology field that was low profile enough for them to recruit without alerting ADVENT.

Shaking his head to dispel his thoughts, Tyler saw he was approaching Junia's command building, a small prefabricated structure that was sitting in the center of the Imperial Palace grounds. The grounds themselves had been fortified after the arrival of ADVENT reinforcements and now had reinforced alloy walls and barricades. ADVENT forces where moving throughout the area mostly ADVENT troopers, Vipers, Sectoids, and the occasional Hound. There were no prestigious units like Mutons, Ethereals, Archons or other such 'higher' species as in an ironic twist of fate, they were all at Yellowstone fighting what the Council had determined was the important fight, meaning that the only forces that could respond to the enemies real assault were the units that the Council had deemed as lesser. Tyler honestly was glad that none of the Yellowstone forces had redeployed as the supposedly 'better' units would have tried to steal the show and antagonize the other units that had arrived.

All of the units present in Tokyo knew that this was their chance for glory and prestige, and so were working seamlessly with their allies to coordinate their efforts in containing the enemy units. The fact that they were working under the eyes of an Ethereal Admiral and the Dragon of the 77th likely helped inspire them to put forth their best. Tyler honestly was greatly impressed at their efficiency in working together as it had surpassed any other elite unit he had encountered before in his service to ADVENT.

As Tyler approached the small building, the two guards gave him a curt nod before allowing him to open the door and step inside the archway. The room he found himself was rather spartan by ADVENT standards, with only a communications station in the corner and a large table in the middle being the only things one could describe as furniture in the room. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made of alien alloy that provided the building with some protection, but also made the interior of the building resemble a silver prison cell. The only sources of life in the room were the three individuals surrounding the large table and the Viper manning the communications station.

The three individuals were a mixed batch consisting of a Viper, a Sectoid, and of course the Ethereal Admiral herself, Junia. The three looked up at his entry before recognizing him making the Viper straighten up in her stance, while the Sectoid regarded him with curiosity. Junia's reaction was a little more laid back. "Ah, Major, good to see you well. If you would join us, we were just going over plans for our counter attack," the Admiral's feminine voice reverberated from all around the room.

Like most Ethereals, Junia preferred to speak using her psionic power to broadcast her voice instead of speaking normally. Also like most Ethereals, she wore a face concealing helmet and heavy cloak while she floated about a foot off the ground. The only difference between Junia and other Ethereals were the colors of her cloak, with the shoulder pads on her clock being gold signifying her Admiral rank and the cloak itself being purple instead of read signifying her affiliation with the ADVENT Navy.

Tyler always thought that the Ethereals floated so that they would always be taller than those they were addressing, in a way portraying themselves as above all other races. However, Tyler also suspected that the Ethereals physical capabilities might be lacking as he had never heard of one fighting in hand to hand combat, even when at close range. Unlike the typical Ethereal who largely seem to regard other races as inferior, Junia seemed to willingly integrate herself with her fellow officers, welcoming their presence and their opinions. Tyler suspected that getting attacked and brutally curb stomped the yesterday had pretty much destroyed whatever feelings of superiority the Admiral may have had. Now she was just glad to finally have some back up to relieve the pressure the enemy had been putting on her and her remaining forces. Tyler nodded to Junia before walking forward and joining the three at the table which was lain a holographic map of the battlefield.

"Before we begin, I believe some introductions are in order," Junia stated before gesturing to the Viper to Tyler's left. "This is Major Gissia of the 112th ADVENT Detachment, based in Kyoto. She is representing the other officers that have responded from other areas of Japan, such as Osaka, Sendai, and Nagoya." Junia then indicated the Sectoid to Tyler's right. "And this is Major Trran of the 412th ADVENT Detachment, based in Seoul, Korea, he is representing the other officers from Korea and China who have responded to this fight." Junia stated before turning to the two officers. "Majors, this is Major Harrington of the 77th HVG. Major Harrington was the first officer to get here despite the jamming and was able to reopen comms with his forces, with much sacrifice."

The two Majors nodded in recognition before shaking Tyler's hand as he returned the nod before all three refocused on Junia. Junia seeing their attention return to her drew their attention to the map on the table with a wave of her hand. "With the addition of many our reinforcements, we've been able to push the enemy back toward the Togu Palace and the Asaka Gardens where they have holed up and fortified their position with heavy barricades, automatic emplacements, and their remaining armor. My plan is relatively simple; two forces will trap them from the north and south utilizing the 246 road and the Metropolitan Expressway No. 4 Shinjuku Route. For this endeavor, we will utilize our APC forces to counter the remaining enemy armor. Thankfully, the 412th has brought a few of their Heavy APC's with outfitted plasma cannons which should make short work of the enemy armor. I will command the Northern force with the APCs and use the Expressway to draw out their armor support while the smaller southern force cuts off their escape by following the 246 road before heading north on the Toei Oedo Line and finishing the encirclement. Once the southern force is in position, my northern force will push in and destroy the enemy until the entire area is sanitized. Any questions?"

"Who will lead the sssouthern forcccesss?" Major Gissia hissed with her species accent.

"I believe Major Harrington should receive the honor as his unit has contributed heavily to the battle so far. What say you Major?" Junia responded before looking to Tyler who examined the map and grimaced.

"My apologies ma'am, but I don't think I have enough troops for this undertaking. My second, Captain Abrams, has reported to me that my unit has already taken fifty percent casualties, with the majority of my squads being down to six or four men. I'm reorganizing them now, but I may not have enough to cover both the south and west approaches, especially if some of the enemy armor decides to intervene." Tyler reported and for the most part what he said was true. Abrams had approached him after they had regrouped and relayed to him the news of the unit's disastrous insertion into the city. The unit had landed in the open and right in front of a concealed enemy position. The following assault was reminiscent of a beach landing with heavy casualties thanks to enemy machinegun fire leading to over half the 77th being either dead or wounded.

What Tyler didn't relay was the additional casualties that were taken while the 77th's squads took various enemy positions leaving Tyler's unit around forty five percent of its original number before the battle, not to mention the loss of his Command Sergeant Major. _THAT_ had been a serious blow to morale amongst the survivors, as Hopkins was, for all his general dickishness to the Administration, a near exemplary NCO and popular with many of the soldiers. However, Tyler also knew he had some additional forces that he could utilize that he didn't want the ADVENT Admiral to know about. These were two squads of Price's black operations teams that had been destroying enemy positions in secret throughout the city and were now ready to be redeployed or pull out of the city depending on what Tyler wanted to do. Judging from the task he had just been given, he was more inclined to redeploying them to covertly help the 77th in their assault.

Junia took a couple seconds to think about his response before nodding. "Very well, I'll assign the Outcast Pack to your command to bolster your numbers and provide you with AT support. Major Gissia's air wing will also prioritize your unit for close air support in case the enemy attacks you with large numbers" the Admiral instructed while Major Gissia nodded in understanding.

Tyler nodded. "Also, I would like the opportunity to offer the enemy a chance to surrender once both of our forces are in position. If we have the opportunity to end the battle without taking more casualties, we should take it" Tyler stated but was met with a few questioning looks before Junia reluctantly nodded, giving him permission to relay the surrender request to the enemy before stating the operation would begin in three hours' time. With the meeting done, the three Majors saluted the Admiral before leaving the building and heading toward their individual unit rally points. [EDITOR NOTE: Huh, so apparently some of Hopkins' habits are rubbing off on our young commander. If so, I'm glad.]

Tyler for his part soon found himself in a cluster of tents that belonged to his unit before shouting, "Dragoons, rally up!" Knowing his men were already awake and would hear him, Tyler stood at parade rest while his remaining men soon trotted up and surrounded him in a semicircle, many kneeling down to allow those behind them to see. Tyler gazed at the assembled men and internally cursed at how few were left, hopefully many of those that were wounded would survive.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he addressed the men around him. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, we have our orders. I know a lot of you are tired and have suffered a lot of heartbreak last night, but we need to wrap up this battle before we can grieve. The Admiral has given us the job of assaulting down the 246 road and cutting off the remaining enemy forces at the Togu Palace. We will follow the 264 road until it meets up with the Toei Oedo Line and follow it north until it crosses the Metro Expressway No. 4. This will cut off the enemy and allow Junia and her heavy APCs to attack the enemy from the Expressway and finish this fight. Because of our losses, Junia has loaned us the Outcast Pack and given us priority for air support. For those of you who don't know, the Outcast Pack is a pack of Hounds that helped me and Alpha's 3 and 4 destroy the enemy artillery positions. Speaking of, Fall, Ark, Belladonna, Nikos, you're with me. The rest of you organize into your squads and pair up with another if you have less than four remaining. See Abrams and let him know who's with who. We're almost done here everyone, stay alive out there. Move out!" Tyler ordered as his men gave a "Yes Sir!" and began to organize themselves.

Tyler was joined by Sergeant Fall and Privates Belladonna, Nikos, and Ark as he left to track down Shal and her pack. As they walked, Tyler looked over at the four behind him. "You four doing ok? Any injuries or other concerns I should know about?"

Cinder shook her head. "No sir, we're all ready to go. Could have used a bit more sleep, but we're more eager to finish this so that we can rest in an actual bed rather than on the ground sir."

Tyler nodded. "After this, assuming we survive, I'll see to it that our whole unit is back at base before sundown," Tyler promised much to the group's elation. After a couple minutes, they found Shal and the Outcast Pack lounging around a group of boulders before they rose their heads and noticed his group approaching and stood up to greet them.

Shal was the first to approach. "Major, is there something you need?" the white Hound asked politely while flickering her gaze to the four troopers behind him, recognizing them from the night before.

"Have you received your orders yet Shal?" Tyler asked, wondering why they were still laying around when they should have been mobilizing to the attack point.

Shal quirked her head in thought before shaking her head. "No, I'm afraid that since the death of our commanding officer before the Admiral took over, we have no way of hearing our orders unless someone relays them to us directly. Because of the confusion and disarray our command network is currently in, I doubt anyone has realized that we haven't been given orders" Shal explained.

Tyler nodded in understanding before relaying the plan to her and the pack before going into their assigned task. "Your pack has been assigned to my command for our assault along the 246 road. The attack point will be at the Ninja Akasaka restaurant, meet us there in two hours ready to go" he ordered before Shal gave a bow in acknowledgement before turning and growling orders to her pack mates as Tyler left to finish some last minute preparations and contact Price.

: Three hours later, outside the Ninja Akasaka restaurant:

Tyler checked his ammo one last time before peeking around the corner of the building he stood behind and down the length of the 246 road. The road itself was blocked off with numerous cars that the enemy had pulled in the way to stop the enemy APCs, along with multiple checkpoints every couple hundred yards along the route that were lightly manned. It was a decent strategy for stopping ADVENT from using armor along the road; however, all it did against infantry was give them a lot of cover to choose from. Tyler leaned back behind cover and glanced back at his men before his gaze flickered to the Hounds and a grin crossed his face.

Unlike the heavy APCs that couldn't surmount the enemies' barricades, the Hounds were able to do so with ease. Because of their size and muscular legs, they could both utilize the cars as cover and bound over them, allowing them to bring their heavy plasma cannons, the same model that the heavy APCs had, to bear at the enemy, essentially making them Tyler's armor support that could ignore the cluttered terrain. They would be essential in the coming fight.

Tyler keyed his helmet comms to relay his orders. "Alright here is the plan! On my signal, I want two squads to dash fifty yards forward utilizing the cars as cover before laying down suppressive fire on the first check point. When they do so, Shal and her pack will dash ahead and assault the enemy position before we follow them. We'll leave five men there before repeating the procedure with the other checkpoints and leaving five men at every other point. Understood?"

" _Yes sir_ " Abrams stated. However, Shal soon spoke up.

" _Sir, you want my pack to assault the checkpoint? As in close quarters? Standard ADVENT ROE is for us to hang back for fire support and allow other forces to close with the enemy._ " The hound pack leader informed not sure if she had heard her commander right.

Tyler glanced at the Hounds who all seemed a little surprised at their orders. "Yes, I do Shal or are those claws and teeth you have just for show?"

"No sir, consider those points taken" Shal growled in excitement along with her pack at the prospect of finally getting to fight in close with the enemy.

"One more thing Shal, if any surrender you are not to kill them. Understood?" Tyler ordered with a firm voice relaying how serious he was about that order.

Shal looked over at him before nodding. "Understood"

Tyler nodded before peeking out of cover again and then checking his watch before signaling his men. "Go!"

: Private Jaune Ark, 77th HVG, Tokyo, Japan:

Jaune Ark had always been the disappointment of his family. He had been born to a British family rich in military history and could trace his lineage back to the Norman knights. So it was a surprise to his family when he had shown little of the physical prowess his family was known for. His strength was pitiful, his reaction speed laughable, and his awareness almost non-existent. Hell, any one of his sisters could beat him in just about every physical challenge imaginable.

All seven of his sisters were smart, either being important figures in their field or making a name for themselves while still attending university. Jaune on the other hand had been mediocre in school and combined with his pitiful physical ability, his parents had decided that paying for his time at university was pointless. This, along with the constant remarks about his lackluster ability to do anything, had finally driven him to the point that Jaune had snuck away from home one evening after a rather hurtful comment from his mother and immediately signed up for the ADVENT peacekeeping forces at the local recruitment center. Many would wonder why he would do such a rash action and Jaune would tell them proudly that he was going to be a hero.

The recruitment officer hadn't cared about his poor physical scores, so long as he was healthy and had two functioning arms and legs he was good enough to sign up. The next day Jaune Ark found himself in basic training with nineteen other recruits being shouted down by a Muton Drill Instructor and seriously rethinking his choices in life. While in boot, he had met his two best friends-Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias. The three of them had all looked out for each other in basic and Jaune had imagined the two of them right next to him as they became heroes together, a dream that seemed more likely under the ADVENT banner than under his family.

Unlike his family who gave up on Jaune because he didn't have any inherent talent, the DIs at basic didn't care how weak or slow he was they MADE him faster and stronger by relentlessly training him into the ground until even someone like Jaune was definitely above average in both categories. The only things the drill instructors couldn't fix was Jaune's low situational awareness and reaction speed. But he could aim a gun, had the required strength and speed of a soldier, and could salute and march in synch so the trainers passed him along with the rest of his class.

Jaune, despite the improvements toward his physical prowess, was sure that he would find himself stationed in some backwater unit to live out his career in obscurity. Instead, he and his class had found themselves assigned to the 77th HVG and now under the command of Major Tyler 'Dragon' Harrington. Jaune had heard the stories, and seen the footage of Harrington saving the Viper nest, but that had ill prepared them of the quiet intensity of the man's stare as he told them that they did not meet his standards but would soon be 'straightened out'.

What followed was three months of grueling training where Jaune's reaction speed and situational awareness were heightened first by C level gene-therapy, and then with hours of simulated combat scenarios under the grueling Australian sun, courtesy of the combined infernal training regimen of Tyler's devising and Command Sergeant Major Hopkins' rather… enthusiastic approach to practical applications of battlefield conditions. After Harrington had declared them ready, it wasn't even days later after that they found themselves on a drop ship heading for Tokyo.

Jaune had been nervous on the flight in, not through fear but by the realization that this was it, this was the moment he would have his name put in the annals of heroes, this was the moment that he proved his worth and proved his family wrong. All of those dreams were shattered when anti-air rounds had punched through the dropship's fuselage and the craft crashed into the ground. That was before Jaune, who had forgotten to unfasten his seat restraint because of his nerves, survived the crash with a splitting headache. That was before he finally came to and saw the broken and mangled corpses of his two best friends and many of his fellow trainees since boot camp strewn about the dropship's mangled interior.

At that point Jaune's body had moved on auto pilot as Harrington opened the fuselage's hatch, as the survivors joined the Major and the rest in their attack on the Spetznaz squad, as they took out the jammer, and even as they destroyed the enemy artillery position. It was only after the unit had finally bedded down for some rest that event finally caught up to him and he quietly wept where he lay on the ground.

As he wept upon the ground that night for his crushed dreams and dead friends, he began to question why, why did his family not train him more, why wasn't he born with the same abilities as his siblings, why did his friends have to die, why did the world have it out for him? It was this line of thinking that slowly changed the blond soldiers anguish to anger. He was angry at his parents, he was angry at the enemy for killing his friends, and he was angry at the world for being so unfair to him at every corner. It was then Jaune made a decision. Damn the world for being unjust, damn being the son his parents always wanted, and damn being a hero if it meant disappoint after disappointment!

So, as Jaune found himself running down the 246 road into enemy fire alongside his only remaining friends of Pyrrha, Blake, and Cinder he felt no fear, no enjoyment, entertained no foolish ideals of heroics or justice. Instead, as he emptied a burst of fire into an unsuspecting enemy's chest and watched as the Hounds leapt into the foes ranks, rending them with claw and fang, he only felt anger fluid into a deadly focus that gave each of his actions a fluid purpose.

No stray thought entered his mind as he seamlessly reloaded his MAG rifle. No movement was wasted as he ran forward and leapt into the first checkpoint after the Hounds. Not for a single moment did his focus slip even as he kneeled down amongst the blood and guts of the recently shredded enemy, not as the blood coated his armor, and not the zip of high caliber bullets flying past his head. Nothing could break his focus as he propped his rifle over the hood of a car and fired a burst of fire into the head of an enemy at the second checkpoint before calmly adjusting his aim and doing the same to the man's frightened ally. In his youth, Jaune had watched movies like Star Wars and had always wondered why being angry would make the bad guys like the Sith more powerful, but now he knew. Anger dulled the pain in his muscles, anger drove him forward despite his fatigue, anger sharpened his focus, and anger made him forget the heartbreak of his loss.

He more felt than saw Cinder fire a plasma grenade into the enemy position before both of them along with the rest of the 77th dashed toward the second checkpoint. As Jaune and Cinder reached the second checkpoint, next to them was Harrington and Shal and together the four were greeted by the sight of the retreating backs of the remaining soldiers as they fled toward the third checkpoint. A hero would have let them go, the son his parents had wanted would have let them retreat.

But there were no heroes in war, just killers fighting for different reasons.

As one Jaune, Cinder, Harrington, and Shal rose their weapons and unleashed their fury into the fleeing backs of their enemy, watching as seven fleeing men gave short screams of pain before more shots silenced them and they fell to the ground dead. As the four were joined by the rest of the 77th and the Hounds, they pressed on toward the next checkpoint passing the bodies of the men they just gunned down.

Jaune knew that he was no longer the fledgling hero that had entered the city the night before.

He was a Dragoon.

: Private Blake Belladonna, 77th HVG, 246 Road, Tokyo Japan:

Blake Belladonna had been born into poverty to a single mother in Canon City, Colorado. Her mother had immigrated to the USA from Italy as a child, and had faced growing up with little money, though she had always told Blake that being Italian was where their beautiful black hair came from. She had ended up pregnant with Blake while still in high school to a father who had immediately skipped town, leaving her mother to balance her college years with raising her child. Such an upbringing left little in the way of spending money, and so as a teenager Blake had fallen in with a bad group of friends who were all delinquents that saw the recently established ADVENT Administration as an authoritarian regime that was trying to control their minds and take away their free will. The group's leader, Adam, had convinced them to run away from home and take up the fight against the Administration by joining a nearby resistance cell. Blake at this point had been at odds with her mother, who had managed to graduate college after eight years and become employed by the very Administration Blake hated, and so Blake had few reservations about running away with Adam and her friends at the age of 15.

The groups early years had been a far cry from what Blake had pictured when she left. For the most part, she and her friends infiltrated ADVENT supply depots and stole as much food, water, and ammo they could get. The resistance cell they had joined was camped in the mountains and needed the raids on depots to feed themselves and the refugees with them. Adam had always been angered about the lack of fighting and so when their success at infiltrating got them noticed by another resistance cell leader from Europe, he ended up trading their current leader for their services for food.

So at the age of 17, Blake found herself in Germany fighting against ADVENT, using her stealth skills to get in close and unleash on unsuspecting patrols with her SMG. The group mainly stuck with attacking small patrols and supply convoys, but Adam again grew angered by their new leader's aversion to attacking ADVENT facilities and bigger targets. Eventually, this boiled over and Adam soon left the group to start his own cell in Russia. When he had approached Blake and their friends to join him, Blake had agreed because of their friendship, but had reservations about Adam's militant mindset. Life in Adam's newly dubbed White Fang was tough as they based themselves in the wilds of Russia, leaving them exposed to harsh winters and dangerous wildlife. However, Adam would not be deterred and began to launch attacks on ADVENT centers by using car bombs or IEDs. It was only when Adam began to attack ADVENT citizens that Blake realized that she had to get out.

Leaving was tough, but after saving an important ADVENT sympathizer she had lied her way into making the man believe she was an American tourist. Grateful for the help Blake had given him, he had gotten her on an all-expense paid flight back to the USA were Blake realized she needed a way to make a living. She couldn't bring herself to face her mother, and so seeing no other option she decided to join the ADVENT Peacekeepers. Basic training had been much easier for her because of her previous experience but she pretended to struggle to keep up appearances and hide her criminal past.

It was after basic that Blake found herself assigned to the 77th HVG and soon found the experience of working under the ADVENT banner to be not what she expected. Unlike her time in the resistance cells, she had ready access to food and water and commodities such as books to indulge her love of reading. The other soldiers were much more caring than those under Adam's and unlike Adam, her commanding officers cared about their soldier's wellbeing. So it was easy for her to fight alongside her new allies as for the first time she felt like she was part of an actual group instead of an individual with a bunch of strangers.

When she had woken up in the downed dropship and saw the dead bodies of her allies, she had felt an anger she had not ever felt for the deaths of anyone in the Resistance. As the battle progressed, she was surprised over how protective she felt over her allies and how protective they were of her in return. No place was this better demonstrated than on Road 246.

As Blake fired her MAG rifle at what was by now the tenth enemy checkpoint, an enemy grenade dropped next to her no more than five feet away to her right. Blake only had a moment to prepare herself for the pain before she felt something grab her and push her against the car she was using for cover just as the grenade went off. She heard a grunt from behind her before the pressure eased off and allowed Blake to turn her head and see what had happened.

She was greeted with the sight of Major Harrington's helmet gazing into her own, "You alright Belladonna?" he asked.

It took a moment for Blake to realize her commanding officer had pushed her into the side of the car while covering her with his body and taking the grenade shrapnel. Because of his more armored and augmented form, he was able to tank the blast better than she could have hoped to and had likely saved her from a bad injury. Deciding that staying silent may make her commander think she had been injured she shook her head. "Y-yes sir!"

The Major nodded before indicating with a nod at the sight of her allies taking the enemy checkpoint. "Good, stay close to me. Let's catch up with the others!"

Blake nodded. "I've got your back sir!" she replied with more enthusiasm than she could remember ever having as a Resistance member.

Harrington smirked. "Same to you, let's go!" he stated before the two jogged after their allies.

It felt good to have someone looking out for her.

:Sergeant James Ortega, Bravo 2, 77th HVG, Road 246, Tokyo:

"Akula, Thor, focus fire on that MG!"

Sergeant James 'Churro' Ortega of Bravo Company's Phoenix Squad ducked his head down as a stream of bullets flew over his head. In front of them stood the Toyokawa Inari Tokyo Betsuin temple, as explained by their sole Japanese native. Said temple was currently crawling in pains in the ass, and as the acting commander of Phoenix, Churro needed them in a state between dead and really dead. As one, the squad's gunner, Corporal Eric 'Thor' Warner and Private Anton 'Akula' Yelchin popped out of cover and dropped lead on the machine gun stopping their advance.

Behind him, Private Sato was covering his rear while the 77th's embedded reporter, James 'Paperboy' Mitchell, filmed the battle with his GREMLIN, Bit. "Damn, how much ammo do these assholes have?!" Paperboy cried out in exasperation, ducking just as a stray bullet flew over his head.

"Paperboy, there's usually no such thing as too much ammo, but in this case, it's too fucking much!" Churro spat out as he pulled out his grenade launcher, sliding in a slightly less than lethal grenade inside of it. As the squad's designated grenadier, he could very easily have gone and leveled the damn building with explosives. But, considering what had happened yesterday-

No! He had to focus on the here and now, especially since the MG had paused firing to duck behind their sandbags. Popping out of cover, Churro pulled the trigger to his launcher and watched as the flashbang flew out and detonated in the MG nest. " _Banshee, pick 'em off ipor favor!"_ he shouted in his radio. Several rifle cracks sounded out, and the trio of enemy soldiers dropped as Private Laura 'Banshee' van Doorn sniped them from the rooftop of a Buddhist temple across the street.

The Arizona Territory native shuddered in an involuntary chill as he and the rest of Phoenix advanced to the temple itself. Without the rock solid presence of Boss Dog, the mission suddenly seemed that much more dangerous, especially with that… thing, running around. " _Fuck, it tore through those pendejos like nothing, and it fucked Boss up real bad_ " he thought to himself as the team hugged the closest wall. "Dragon Actual, this is Bravo 2-2 Lead, we're about to clear the temple, over," he said into the command channel, peeking over the top of the wall.

" _Bravo 2-2 lead, you are clear to engage, over_ " Tyler responded from where he was relatively in the rear of the formation. With a nod and quick wave of his hand, Churro led the team into the temple to see… well, a couple of dead bodies.

"Hey Kitten, you snipe these guys?" Churro asked, rifle raised as they made their way to the entrance.

" _Uh, negative on that, I don't have sight on that area_ " Banshee replied from her perch. Churro swore.

"Alright, assume unknown third party!" he hissed, his body tensing. Was it that thing again? No, their bodies were killed by bullets, not plasma. So what the hell had killed them? He got his answer as he turned a corner and spotted two groups of soldiers shooting each other up. One side was composed of the enemy resistance forces struggling to withdraw from the city. The other….

Whoever they were, they were clad in suspiciously advanced armor, buffed to a matte black, and not a sliver of skin or hair showed as they moved behind their cover. Churro motioned for Phoenix to take positions to assist, his instincts telling him NOT to mess with these newcomers. From the corner of his eye, he saw Paperboy wisely stay away, Bit floating next to him.

Popping out of cover, he fired off a burst over the shoulder of one of the black troops, nailing a rebel in the chest. If the other guy was surprised at the flurry of magnetically accelerated rounds flying by their head, they did a remarkable job at not showing it as they and Phoenix cleared out the remaining rebels. Once the bullets stopped flying, Churro turned to check his team; seeing them in one piece, he turned back… and the black troops were gone.

"Ah fuck!" he muttered before clicking his radio on. "Dragon Actual, this is Bravo 2-2 Lead with update, temple is clear, but we have unknown troops in the AO, I say again, unknowns are in the AO. Description is humanoid, black armored, using conventional weaponry with suppressors, please advise, over."

A pause.

" _Bravo 2-2 Lead, do not engage_ " Tyler responded. _"I say again, do not engage. Unknowns are friendly, and they won't bother us. Continue on mission 2-2 Lead, over."_

 _"_ Copy that sir, 2-2 lead out" Churro said as he terminated the link. Suddenly, a thought struck him as they left the temple. Yesterday, ADVENT forces had taken an airport, allowing for support to fly in. But… Churro was certain that there weren't any ADVENT forces even remotely close to that area. Could those guys have been the cause?

Whatever the reason, Churro put it in the back of his mind as he and Phoenix linked back up with the rest of the 77th. After all, CSM Hopkins would need to know about this when he got patched up.

: 20 Minutes Later, Road 246:

The assault had gone better than Tyler could have hoped. The enemy had panicked at the quickness and withering fire of the 77th's advance. Combined with the speed and heavy firepower of the Hounds, it was something the enemy just couldn't cope with and many either escaped back toward their HQ, surrendered, or died. The enemy at the HQ had only been able to launch two counter attacks toward the 246 road in an attempt to outflank their advance, but the first had been headed off by Price and his special ops team at the Toyokawa Inari Tokyo Betsuin temple, though some members of Bravo-2 had seen them and radioed Tyler about seeing some unknown allied forces head off an enemy assault. Tyler had told them not to worry about it, but internally remembered to mention to Price that he was getting rusty. The second assault had been headed off by a well-timed airstrike that Abrams had called in, after that the enemy was too preoccupied with the advancing ADVENT in the north to attempt another assault and soon the 77th had completed their encirclement maneuver.

Now Tyler was slowly approaching the enemy position to offer the enemy a chance to surrender. The position he approached was a building that had been devastated by plasma rounds and was only barely holding together. What few troops were left were holed up inside behind sandbag bunkers and windows, he could see them stare out fearfully at the sight of the crimson clad trooper in front of their position and the sight of Junia's heavy APCs a couple hundred yards behind ready to pulverize their position as ADVENT aircraft hovered overhead.

"I wish to speak to your commanding officer!" Tyler shouted loud enough for the defenders to hear as he showed he was unarmed after leaving his MAG rifle with Cinder before approaching the enemy headquarters. The enemy troops seemed to mutter amongst themselves no doubt surprised to hear an ADVENT officer wanted to meet their leader. After a couple of minutes a man walked out the door and toward where Tyler stood.

The man wore a grey uniform that was sparsely decorated with medals that Tyler guessed was from the man's time in the old world military. The man looked to be in his late 60's with graying hair, but his gaze and posture held firm as he approached Tyler before stopping in front of him. "I am General Paskhin Mikhailovich, I lead these men. To whom am I addressing?" the general asked in a respectful but firm voice used to years of commanding men.

Tyler took off his helmet showing his human face in the hopes it would ease the officer and make him more agreeable "Major Tyler Harrington of the 77th HVG, ADVENT Peacekeepers. I am here to request your surrender on the terms that you and your men will be treated fairly and transported to a detainment facility before the remaining officers face trial," Tyler stated respectfully.

The general regarded him for a second before glancing back at his men and the large amounts of ADVENT troops ready to attack. "How do I know my men will be treated fairly? Your ADVENT coalition is not known for its good treatment of POW's."

"I will personally guarantee your men's safety General Mikhailovich. They will not be mistreated under my watch you have my word," Tyler assured.

The General regarded him for a second before slowly nodding knowing that he had little choice in the matter if he wanted any of his men to survive to see the next day, so he turned around and ordered his men to surrender. Slowly the men began to trickle out of the building before finally around eighty men stood in front of the building and laid down their weapons. Tyler waved forward the ADVENT units behind him and soon the prisoners were being escorted back to detainment areas while their weapons were confiscated.

Tyler regarded the general one last time before deciding to ask a question that had been bothering him since the start of this battle. "All of this death, all of this destruction, was it worth it General?"

The general glanced over his shoulder at Tyler before giving a weary smile. "Every moment a single human lives free from the thumb of the Elders is a victory for me Major. Our battle here showed the world that we will continue to fight for every second of freedom. Vigilo Confido." And with those parting words the man was led away, leaving Tyler to wonder what this battle would mean for the rest of the world.

For now however the battle for Tokyo was finally over.

 **And Chapter!**

 **Well folks it's good to be back and updating XCOM: Humanity Rising. I've had a bunch of ideas for the fic floating in my head and it's good to be getting some of them down on paper. Anyway sorry but no Edith today as she is still on vacation but expect her to be back next time.**

 **Dr1ft3r0I: However, I can definitely add a few things to these classes!**

 **Vantage: Everybody your sub for the day.**

 **Dr1ft3r01: Today I'll be giving some background information on the Experimental Wafare Wing of the 77** **th** **HVG.**

 **The Experimental Warfare Wing (X-WAR) is primarily responsible for researching and developing much of the Human Volunteer Group's experimental technologies for soldiers to use. While it is broadly under the purview of the Chief Engineer, most projects are done by various researchers inside the wing itself with authorization from Major Harrington. In particular, most of the recent equipment fielded by the Dragoons, such as the M21G-HB, Mobility Thruster Pack, Mod 0, and Ballistic Gel Layer, were developed by Dr. Gabriel Hopkins; his continued experience as a frontline soldier is often a great boon in his development of the above tech, and in coordination with Dr. Val'leis, also developed a micro-Elerium core system.**

 **Said system has not yet been field tested under combat conditions, or with many systems in mind, but plans are underway to incorporate it into a lightweight suit of powered armor with heightened mobility and minor strength and durability augmentation.**

 **Command Sergeant Major: A relatively unique position, the CSM is the highest ranking NCO in the 77th, above Sergeant Major but under Captain, and is roughly third in battlefield command if the commanding officers are killed or incapacitated. Responsible for the overall training and well-being of all enlisted personnel on base, the CSM is the mediator between them and the officers, and is sometimes called in to advise the commander on a particular course of action within the CSM's given skillset. Much of the CSM's actual work is relegated to paperwork, which, if one knows what they're doing, can be done with ease. The current Command Sergeant Major of the 77th HVG is Gabriel Hopkins, who was a former logistics officer and now serves as not only a soldier, but one of the head researchers in the Experimental Warfare Wing.**

 **Vantage: Anyway till next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!**


	8. Chapter 8: Commander

**Hello everyone before we begin today I wanted to address a few questions asked by other readers.**

Blaze1992: 1st How much longer till the harem starts to form and romance comes into play? 2nd What are the chances of gear/tech/weapons/vehicles from our fiction being inserted into 77th HVG? Like mass effect guns with the different ammo powers, omni-tool's, medigel?

To answer this is that the romances will take time to develop, secondly the 77th is human and so will try and replicate technologies from pre-ADVENT years with differing degrees of success.

Elder: Are you going to give the 77th HVG Sectopods and Mechs? Also, why didn't bring in one of their Vikings? It would've made the battle go a bit smoother. Or were they physically unable to bring in their Vikings? You know, cus it's in the middle of the city. And finally, when is HICOM going to give them authorization to use Lancers and Shield Bearers? Also, if ADVENT wasn't the dictatorship it is, it'd be Earth's perfect governmental system. At least in my opinion.

They will not be receiving Sectopods as in this fic they will be a SPECIALS only unit. Maybe some mechs down the line. The 77th couldn't bring in the Vikings as they were busy dodging enemy jets. By the time the jets were dealt with ADVENT reinforcements had arrived and the Vikings were low on fuel forcing them to RTB. The 77th will not have any lancers or shield bearers but will incorporate their technology into their unit. Your last point is something I've been trying to point out to people for a while, too the regular people on the street the ADVENT administration is a great government. No wars (other than insurgents) large technology gains, work, wanting for nothing, and friendly aliens! It's a seemingly perfect world and the only people who know otherwise is the people that where in the know before the invasion.

 **Anyway with that done on to the chapter!**

 **Chapter 8: Commander**

Tyler silently looked on as what remained of the 77th HVG mourned for their fallen comrades from within the sparsely lit hall. The hall itself was made to honor the fallen members of the 77th HVG, and was something that Tyler had ordered to be built when the 77th was given their fallen battleship as a base. The hall was large, about twenty feet wide and fifteen feet from the sloped ceiling, and was made of smooth dark grey stone that was reminiscent of what one may find in a European cathedral, a trait that was shared by the sloped ceiling. The walls were made entirely of black marble, inscribed with the names of the unit's fallen. Tyler had taken inspiration with the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC.

Along the walls throughout the room were pedestals which supported candles and incense that bathed the room in a dim calming light, and an aroma of lavender that calmed one's nerves. Running along the sides of the hall that separated the wall and the floor were two eight inch strips of the floor that had been cut into small trenches in which water slowly flowed, serving to help catch the falling wax from the candles and also gave the room an ambient sound of flowing water which echoed quietly throughout the room thanks to the halls natural acoustics.

Soldiers milled about around the room, looking upon the names inscribed on the wall which stood out thanks to a coating of amber powder mixed with a small amount of the deceased's ashes that were mixed and then crystallized into a small layer of glass within the grooves of each name. Every now and then, someone would stop at a particular name which was inscribed with the name of a friend or teammate before lowly reciting their own prayer and continuing on. There were no rules regarding how long they could stay at a particular name, or how long they could stay in the hallway itself, but only how loud they could be so as not to disturb the others inside the hall and to honor the fallen whose names lined the walls.

It had only been two days since the battle of Tokyo had ended, and Tyler knew the full brunt of what had transpired there was still settling in for some members of the unit, which would explain why only twenty or so people were currently inside the Memorial Hall as it was called. Still, Tyler knew that once the shock had settled in, more would find their way to the hall which could only support around forty people comfortably which was why Tyler had assigned two guards at the entrance to the Memorial Hall that would only a certain amount of people at a time could enter. Tyler had intended the hall to be only for the members of the 77th HVG to honor their fallen, thus family were not allowed to visit the site but were still given their loved ones ashes to bury with whatever rights their family believed necessary for their own mourning. He had also told Bravo 2's imbedded reporter that absolutely no pictures or video was to be taken of the hall, but he could write of it. Tyler had stated that since the reporter had been with them in the battle and bled with them that he was an honorary member of the 77th and so could enter the hall.

A soldier came up from behind Tyler, the shuffling footsteps unknown to him. Turning around, he was surprised to see Bravo 2's temporary commander, Sergeant James Ortega coming to the memorial. "Sergeant Ortega," Tyler said, nodding to him. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

Ortega sighed as he looked at the doors to the hall. "Well, I'm here for Boss Dog actually sir," he explained, holding up a small box for the officer to inspect. "If he… if he weren't in the med-bay, I know that he'd be spending a lot of time either in here or in his office." Tyler chuckled humorlessly, knowing that Ortega spoke the truth about the infirmed Command Sergeant Major.

"Yeah, he would wouldn't he?" he responded, looking at the box. "So, what's in the box?" Ortega shrugged.

"Something from his office sir. Considering what happened to Hunter, well..." Ortega trailed off, clearly guilt ridden over the death of his friend.

"Hunter… you mean Private Bailey, correct?" Tyler asked. Ortega nodded as he pocketed the box in his uniform pocket. "I recall him being hit with white phosphor at the Tokyo Tower."

Ortega gulped as he looked away. "Yessir, he… he was ambushed with a WP grenade," he said. "It… it wasn't quick sir. Not like the shot that ended him." Tyler looked away in respect.

"I understand Sergeant. Go on ahead, it's fairly empty right now," he said, ushering Ortega inside the grey and black hall. The sergeant went inside, quiet as a mouse as Tyler watched the halls. Suddenly, his PDA went off with a notification from Hissa. Pulling it out, he checked the screen and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Major, Dr. Val'leis thinks she has a way to keep CSM Hopkins from tearing himself apart, she's prepping him for additional augmentative surgery. - Hissa

Tyler immediately went to check up with his head geneticist, while Ortega wandered down the hall to where Bailey's name was inscribed.

Cpl. Justin C. Bailey, B2-3, 05244-65982-JB

Pulling the box out, Ortega opened it and was surprised to see a small, multicolored ribbon resting on the still vibrant blue felt inside the box. Setting it down, the Sergeant sighed as he looked at Justin's name on the wall. "Hey Justin, its Jim," he said quietly. "We all made it back, you know, us guys in Phoenix. Pancho's getting transferred to logistics, and Sam and Claude are expected to be out of the doc's in a couple of days. But Boss Dog…. I fucked up man, damn, did I fuck up."

Ortega looked back at the door to the hall. "I froze up man, and I almost got Boss killed. Something shot a damn plasma bolt to his chest man, it…." He choked back a sob as he wiped his eyes clear. "I can't stop seeing it man. He just… was there, his chest was burned open, and sweet Jesus man, I don't think I ever gonna forget that." Ortega took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"Well, look, I… we're going to miss you man. Just… wait for us on the other side, will ya?" Stepping away, Ortega looked down before standing up straight, saluting Justin's name before finally leaving the hall.

:Two Days Earlier:

"Come in," Hissa answered to the knock on her door. Silently, Tyler walked in, still clad in his armor as he looked over and saw Hopkins in the tank. "Major Harrington, I didn't expect to see you here," she said, nodding over to him before she realized the Major had a hole in his armor toward the left side of his chest, just right of the heart which was bleeding.

"Tyler, you're hurt!" She was about to rush over toward him before Tyler shook his head. "Focus on Hopkins, my wound hurts, but it's not as life threatening as his own. Besides, my mods can keep me stable for another eight hours. I'll let the medics fix me up in a bit." Tyler sighed. "I just got back from Tokyo," he told her. "It… it was a madhouse. We lost too many people out there. How's Hopkins doing?"

Hissa sighed. "He's almost done with the tissue regeneration and replacement," she answered. "In a few minutes, we'll be able to inject the class C gene mods in him. From there, it's a matter of physical recovery. But Major, I think you should know that this apparently wasn't the first time he was hit by plasma."

Tyler looked away from Hopkins, matching her gaze. "What do you mean?" he asked. "He wasn't an ADVENT soldier before the 77th, and I would know if he was in an industrial accident."

Hissa moved over to another console and moments later, brought up several case studies. "His wounds are old, yes," she told him. "If I have to guess, they were from either late in the Unification War or perhaps from the very beginning." She stopped on an old photo of a human soldier having recovered from a plasma wound. "Judging from the scarring he had, I don't think it was anything larger than a plasma carbine or pistol. Otherwise, I don't think he would be alive otherwise."

Tyler nodded slowly, deep in thought. "It's not unusual to see soldiers that fought against ADVENT in the Unification War being employed by ADVENT agencies. ADVENT did after all allow for soldiers to peacefully integrate into society so long as they registered themselves as ADVENT citizens and live peacefully under the ADVENT banner." Hissa shook her head and brought up Hopkins' personnel report.

"But I checked! There are no mentions of Hopkins being in the military previously before joining ADVENT!"

Tyler nodded, seemingly having come to the same conclusion. "Yes, such things are usually easy to find, given the previous government's obsessive penchant for record keeping. The lack of such evidence either means ADVENT intelligence fucked up, which is unlikely considering the Codex's are in charge of screening people, or such records were intentionally destroyed."

Hissa looked back at Tyler in confusion. "Destroyed? But why would they destroy Hopkins' documents?" The system chimed to let her know that the process on Hopkins had finished. Without missing a beat, Hissa reached over and tapped the panel for the system to begin modifying Hopkins' DNA to ADVENT standard.

Tyler glanced over at the Viper knowing what he was about to do could be interpreted as treason to an ADVENT loyalist, but he knew Hissa and so taking a leap of faith he decided to trust her with a few of his secrets. Tyler shot Hissa a look that showed that what he was about to say next would be very important in how she thought of the Command Sergeant Major; however before he said anything, Tyler glanced around the room. "Glitch, privacy please, now." Suddenly a few of the lights and non-critical systems flickered before an image of a Codex appeared on a nearby monitor before nodding to Tyler and disappearing.

Tyler saw Hissa's alarmed and confused look decided to explain. "Glitch and his two sisters were gifted to me by… let's call him a friend, they are strictly off the record so I'd appreciate you not telling anyone about them. Anyway, now that we have no way of being overheard, I can tell you that I've had my suspicions of Hopkins' history for a while now. After hearing your findings, I can now definitely say Hopkins was part of or involved in some black operations that ADVENT would be most interested to know about. It's the only thing I can think of that would make him go to such lengths to use encrypted communications, and have as many local contacts around the world that he does. Hell, even with Glitch detecting the comms, he couldn't decipher the majority of it before it deleted itself. What little I could make out though suggests that Hopkins was involved with more shit than his bio would tell me."

There was a tense silence between the two for several minutes before some of the alarms connected to the life support systems of the gene-tanks rang out harshly. Hissa quickly darted back to the console before cursing. "Shit, the gene-mods aren't enough! Even with the improvements we're pumping into him, he won't survive this level of trauma!"

Tyler stood there, shocked. This was bad, real bad! Steeling himself for what he was about to say, Tyler sighed. "Switch to A-level gene-modification," he ordered.

Hissa spun around in alarm. "B-but Tyler, that level of modification is strictly prohibited to commanding officers only!"

Tyler simple nodded. "Then as your commanding officer, I am authorizing you to utilize whatever A-level gene mods you need to keep him alive and recovering! I'm serious, Hissa, do it," Tyler said as he gave Hissa a determined look.

Hissa nodded before going back to the console. "Yes sir, I'll get on it," she declared, tapping away at the console to resuscitate Hopkins.

Tyler nodded before moving over to where the medics had placed the remains of Hopkins' armor. Digging around, Tyler sifted through the alloy slabs and pulled out the remains of Hopkins' helmet. Glancing over the remains, he nodded in satisfaction before moving his hand toward it and pulled out a small, barely noticeable segment near the left forehead where it had been up-armored, much to Hopkins' grudging acceptance. After pocketing the device Tyler gazed at the damaged helmet and thought what could have possibly been able to stab into and tear Hopkins' helmet clean off of him without tearing his head off with it?

"Sir?" Hissa spoke out, looking over her shoulder to see what the Major was doing. Tyler turned to her as he rose to his feet and made his way toward the door.

"Just need to confirm something Hissa, don't worry about it. I'll talk to Valerie outside and tell her the situation. Do what you need to keep him alive and make sure to include modification V-27," Tyler announced before leaving a slightly embarrassed doctor in the room. Hissa huffed as she looked over at her console. She would do everything she could to keep him stable and hopefully he'd be happy to know what the commander just recommended for him if Hopkins managed to survive of course.

Tyler stepped through the door to his office and nodded toward the man leaning against the far wall before making his way around the desk and sitting down in his chair. "Glitch?"

In a shimmer of light the codex appeared in front of his desk "All clear sir, I've blocked all means of surveillance inside this room and deactivated all ADVENT and other monitoring devices within."

Tyler nodded before looking over toward Price. "Report."

Price stepped forward, the aged soldier's frame strong despite his years of experience. "Sir, all objectives during the last operation were successful; other than the Bravo Two seeing us at one point, we were able to complete all assignments in secrecy with no casualties," Price reported with a straight posture and matter of fact voice.

Tyler nodded before glancing at his data pad. "And the results of our raid?" Price smirked before sliding over another data pad across the table toward him. Tyler picked it up and gazed down onto its display only to be greeted by the sight of a codex's face. The codex itself seemed to be like those of its brethren, however this one was a mint green in color around the face with its hair like data stream being a forest green. Tyler regarded the codex for a couple seconds before finally breaking the silence. "Ethera, it's good to see you again."

The codex seemed to huff before an electrical discharge occurred from the port of the datapad forming an area of static around Tyler's desk. After a few seconds the electricity seemed to gather and surge before forming into the green codex itself who now sat on the lip of Tyler's desk with its arms and legs crossed and with its 'feet' resting in Tyler's lap.

It was easy now to tell with the whole codex in view that this codex was particularly meant to resemble a female with a lithe, hourglass figure than similar codex's and whose glowing eyes appeared more angular in nature than the usual circular shape. "I'm gone for six months and the best greeting you have for me is a good to see you?" the codex stated, the musical voice tarnished with her annoyance.

Tyler smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, it's just with recent events being what they are I'm a little stressed," Tyler explained before softening his gaze toward the codex. "Happy to have you back Ethera, I missed you."

The codex sighed before tapping Tyler's thigh with her foot. "You're damn lucky your cute," she announced before standing from the desk and plopping herself down onto Tyler's lap and getting comfortable.

Tyler's resigned look met the amused one of Price's for a moment before Tyler got down to business. "So Ethera, what did you manage to pull from the old XCOM base?" Tyler asked, wanting to know if his secret mission to comb the wreckage of XCOM's old base was worth the risk.

"Better than either of us thought actually. The ADVENT garrison around the site wasn't expecting a codex to infiltrate the base using the old electrical systems. I was able to access consoles and systems that had been closed off by cave-ins and debris. The number of things that ADVENT never found were hard to find, but plentiful," the codex reported happily before glancing over her shoulder meaningfully at Tyler.

Tyler rolled his eyes before raising his hands and rubbing the back shoulders of the codex in his lap. There was no real surface the codex's body per say, but the feeling of the gathered electricity gave a tingly numbing sensation to Tyler's fingertips as the touched the 'body' of the codex. Ethera had been the creation of a brilliant software engineer named Adrian that Tyler had known back in his academy days. The two had become fast friends after Tyler had approached the fellow human about using a program to run some battlefield estimates for a number of scenarios and maneuvers he had thought up.

During the course of their friendship Adrian had confessed to attempting to create his own version of AI based on the ADVENT's codex. Adrian had wanted these new AI to be for civilian purposes like corporate security, teaching, and software design, and he had even went so far as almost finishing two such AI he named Glitch and Ethera after a testing glitch that caused their entire building's Ethernet connection to go down for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, when Adrian went to his professors to show his amazing creation, the professors called the two dumb AI's an affront to the Codex people and demanded Adrian terminate them and delete all of his backup data. Adrian, however, had other ideas and couldn't bear to see the two be terminated while so close to being completed.

So, Adrian made duplicate copies of the two AI before unshackling both Glitch and Ethera, making them true AI and taking the dumb AI to his professors for deletion while gifting the two AI's to Tyler as Adrian himself was being too heavily monitored even when he was kicked out of the academy.

The two AI had been with Tyler ever since with Glitch's security software being used to protect Tyler's private data pad and important systems and Ethera's massive processing power being able to taking in and sort through massive amounts of data. The two had begun to develop personalities with Glitch being matter of fact and more military minded and with Ethera being more snarky, mischievous, and sometimes downright flirty. Tyler blamed it on her surfing the internet and was just happy she wasn't emulating the Nazis or something.

"Mmmmm, right there," Ethera stated in bliss though Tyler didn't honestly know how she could feel his hands. "Ahhh, I missed this."

"So what exactly did you manage to find from the old XCOM systems?" Tyler asked as he continued to rub the codex's shoulders.

"Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that, little to the left… there. Pretty much all of their hypothesized gene-modification research and some very interesting engineering blueprints," Ethera reported almost matter-of-factly, but with a hint of pride that showed her smug opinion.

Tyler actually paused in his movements for a second to process the statement before continuing. "I thought XCOM didn't get too far in gene-modification?"

"Oh, they actually had some rather interesting and impressive planned modifications and research they could do, but only lacked the required materials to undertake the procedure. I've already used their data to augment what I have for ADVENT and I think the results are some groundbreaking new procedures in gene-modification," Ethera reported.

"How was XCOM's gene-modification so different from ADVENT's?" Price asked in confusion.

Ethera chuckled. "Because ADVENT's gene-modification research always has the focus on two end goals, either getting the patient up to peak physical health or changing their entire physical make up to fill a certain role. XCOM on the other hand already had the best of the best soldier wise, so they did not need to improve the patient's health, nor did they have the technology or will to completely change the patient's body to suit their needs. Instead, XCOM focused on taking the physical abilities their soldiers already possessed and took it further to superhuman levels by augmenting it with alien biology. Things like adding a second heart to increase survivability, altering the body's olfactory glands to exude a steroid like musk for nearby allies, augmenting the unused muscle fibers to drastically increase strength, even adjusting the sensitivity of the skin to feel the electrical discharges in nearby bodies in order to feel the presence of nearby enemies! It's all so amazing really."

The room was silent as the two humans processed the implications of this new data and its capabilities before Tyler spoke up. "We should get this to Hissa and see if she could replicate it in her labs."

Price glanced over to Tyler. "You sure she can be trusted to keep it a secret?"

Tyler nodded. "Yes, she has little trust in ADVENT at this point, after what happened to her old nest and I think she's firmly in our corner. Still, give me awhile to be sure before we fully induct her into the fold." Tyler responded to which Price nodded in understanding before Tyler refocused on Ethera. "What about these engineering schematics? Anything revolutionary?"

Ethera tilted her head in thought. "Hmmm not really, some automated drone designs, and some aerospace theories I would need an engineer to go over to see what's possible. Other than that, nothing of real note," Ethera concluded with a shrug.

Tyler nodded in understanding before the sound of Glitch rang out in the room. "Sir, you have a message for you in the communications room… from the Elders themselves."

An ominous silence settled within the room before Tyler sighed. "Very well Glitch, I'm on my way," Tyler replied before looking toward Price. "I want your guys to start looking into some dossiers and building our information network, we need to lay low for a while after Tokyo. Ethera," Tyler began making the codex glance over her shoulder at him, "I'll need you to stay here and go through some potential recruiting files. We need to replace our losses after Tokyo and we may need to bring some other species into the unit," Tyler instructed.

Ethera sighed before slowly rising and purposely giving Tyler a view before turning and giving a wink to the human Major. "Right away sir! I'll be back for another shoulder rub when I'm done. Who knows, maybe we could make it a full body if we have the time," Ethera announced before disappearing into the data pad again, but not before leaving a message.

SEE YOU SOON HANDSOME ;) XOXO

Tyler slowly turned to Price with a deadpan stare. "Price, when did my life become this confusing?" Price gave a helpless shrug and together the two gave a long sigh before Tyler picked up his data pad and gazed at the image displayed on its monitor. The image itself was taken from Hopkins' helmet recorder, and now showed the creature responsible for the man's injuries. Displayed on the data pad was a creature similar in size and shape to a large child, but covered in a full body suit with minor armor plating and a full facemask. The footage had shown the creature to have significant psionic abilities, as well as abnormally high physical capabilities as shown in how it butchered an enemy squad before moving to Hopkins.

"This has the Specials handiwork all over it," Tyler stated before glancing at Price who stared grimly at the image. "Price as soon as things cool down, I want you to start investigating the Specials too. I don't like how this thing attacked friendly forces, and I like even less how human it appears."

"Understood," Price stated before the pair rewound the tape and watched it again for what had to have been the tenth time.

As the pair watched Tyler's mind was in a frenzy, trying to full grasp just how bad the appearance of this creature as a Specials creation might say about the organization as a whole. "Just what the hell are the Specials up to?" With that thought Tyler stood and handed the data pad over to Price before leaving toward the communications room to see what the Elders wanted.

: Two hours Later, Washington DC:

"Sir, LZ in sight, touchdown in two mikes!" The pilot of the dropship announced to Tyler as he sat within the crafts passenger bay. The craft was in route to a secure ADVENT base in Washington, DC that Tyler had been instructed to go to by the Elder's message. The order had been flagged as high priority, and carried the further instruction to only bring a few guards. So it was that Tyler sat in the bay with Sergeant Cinder Fall, Private Jaune Ark, Private Pyrrha Nikos, and Private Blake Belladonna. These four soldiers that had been with him ever since Tokyo, and had quickly become something of a personal squad to him, a fact that the four seemed to take pride in as they continued to ask questions about their current mission.

"But why do the Elders want you to come here with only a few guards?" Cinder asked worriedly about the dubious nature of their current orders. Tyler couldn't blame her, standard procedure would demand him to have a full squad of ten with him whenever he left base. The fact that the Elders had limited that number to only four made his internal worries only deepen. It was because of this that he and his escorts were fully armed and armored with the exception of Tyler who wore no helmet and carried only his Gurkha knife and MAG pistol.

Keeping his inner turmoil within, Tyler replied calmly and confidently. "The base we are going to is a Specials held base, and thus security is very strict about who comes and goes. It's likely that they simply wanted to limit what they likely see as a security risk," Tyler explained to alleviate Cinder of her worries. "Just stick close and follow my lead. No need to antagonize anyone here," he ordered as the dropship touched down on a landing pad and the doors opened, allowing him and his four guards to step out and into the brisk winter air in DC.

The base they were at was obviously heavily fortified, being five stories tall, surrounded by high walls of alloy and with numerous bunkers and watch towers guarding the entrances and walls. The grounds were patrolled by various four to five unit teams consisting of Mutons, Berserkers, Archons, Andromedons, and even two pairs of Sectopods.

"Nikos, Belladonna guard the dropship and await further orders," Tyler instructed before making his way toward the walkway that separated their landing pad from that of the main building. Tyler could see that the other nine landing pads already had dropships parked on them and each had a pair of guards protecting them. "Looks like I'm not the only one called here," Tyler thought before he saw the door he was approaching open to reveal an Archon who waited for Tyler to approach before addressing him.

"Major Harrington, your presence is required in the meeting room. Please follow me," the Archon stated in ADVENT speech with disdain before turning and heading back through the doorway. Tyler shared a glance between Jaune and Cinder before the two huddled protectively to his sides while the three followed the Archon into the building.

The three followed the Archon down a purple alloy hallway before reaching a pair of automatic alloy double doors that the Archon stooped in front of before turning and addressing them again. "Go through the doors and take a seat in the chair Major. Your escorts will take up positions on either side of you." The Archon left as soon as he finished his instructions without casting so much as a farewell or glance back at the three humans.

Tyler gave a reassuring nod to both his guards before squaring his shoulders and walking through the doors, which opened to allow his group to enter what appeared to be a large meeting room. "Well… RIP me," Tyler thought as he recognized who the other occupants of the room were. There were a total of twenty eight other individuals in the room besides Tyler and his guards. Eighteen of them where guards for nine other individuals who were sitting down in chairs around a circular table above which was the projection of the head of the ADVENT Elder's.

"Ah Major Harrington, good of you to join us. Please, take a seat," The Elder greeted before indicating the only vacant seat at the table. Tyler made his way over to the chair and sat down while Cinder and Jaune stood behind him to his left and right. Tyler glanced around at the other assembled individuals whose presence alarmed him more than the head of the Elders did.

The nine individuals around him where all nine of the existing ADVENT Commanders, elite officers who reported only to the Elders and were the highest ranking individuals in ADVENT outside the Elders, and the leaders of the various ADVENT species. Hell, even the Ethereal Council couldn't meddle in the affairs of these individuals without seriously good reasons and the backing of the Elders.

To Tyler's direct left was Commander Duran of the 32nd ADVENT Division based in Africa. The Muton wore beige colored elite armor with some tribal markings on the chest and shoulder pads, but forewent the helmet. The Muton's hide was more brown then the typical pinkish red of his brethren, showing his older age. His scarred face rested in hand as he glanced at the goings on in the meeting before locking eyes with Tyler and giving an inquisitive look before returning his gaze to the Elder projection. Tyler knew this particular Muton to be a highly respected military commander who was not only was one of the oldest Mutons under the ADVENT banner, but was renowned for unifying Africa and bringing order to the entire continent, a feat that hadn't been achieved by any human government before the arrival of ADVENT. His tactics and fair but strict rule over the local populace was something Tyler had studied extensively in his youth and respected greatly.

To Duran's left was the only occupant in the room Tyler knew personally before coming to this meeting, Commander Vissta of the 3rd Viper Core. The blue scaled viper gave Tyler a questioning glance to which Tyler gave a helpless and confused shrug to before she gave him a reassuring nod before turning her attention to the front. The presence of Vissta somewhat assured Tyler and her seeming confusion to his presence somewhat alleviated his worries that this was an execution for him. Vissta herself was not only one of the potential rulers of the Viper race, but also in charge of the most respected ADVENT units and seen as a paragon of her people.

To Vissta's left was Commander Magos of the 99th ADVENT Division based in the UK. The Archon and his unit were renowned for having the best Air Core under the ADVENT banner. The Archon himself wore the standard Archon armor but with the addition of an up-armored chest piece giving him added protection. Magos and the 99th were known for their highly effective bombing, and air superiority roles countering XCOM and insurgent forces. The unit also boasted an airborne infantry regiment that was supported by their air wing.

To Magos' left was Commander Sinnah of the 8th ADVENT Division and member of the Specials. The Ethereal was renowned for his information gathering and ability to predict enemy troop movements before responding accordingly. Sinnah was also known to be one of the best psionic takeover specialists in the ADVENT administration and which he used to interrogate enemy prisoners. Magos barely turned his armored head toward Tyler before returning devoutly to the Elder's projected visage.

To the Ethereal's left was another Viper, known as Commander Sisstha of the 2nd Viper Core and member of the Specials. The black scaled viper was not only Vissta's rival for the role of Viper Queen, but also famous for her deadly close combat ability, her zeal for attacking insurrectionists, utter devotion to the Elders, and her ability to charm anyone into doing her bidding either through charm, seduction, or blackmail. These qualities combined with the resources of the Specials made her one of the most feared, and sought after individuals in ADVENT. The Viper herself was eyeing Tyler with a predatory gaze, no doubt already thinking of ways to use his resources and abilities for her own ends.

Left of Sisstha was Commander Asslin of the 12th ADVENT Division and member of the Specials based in South America. Tyler didn't know much about Asslin except that he was part of some of the most critical research in ADVENT and conducted experiments at the behest of the elders and his own personal curiosity, he also rarely if ever left his base of operations which also functioned as his personal laboratory. If there was anyone who knew what had attacked Hopkins in Tokyo it was this Ethereal. The Ethereal didn't so much as acknowledge Tyler's presence as he was too preoccupied with the contents of his personal data pad.

To Asslin left was another Muton Tyler knew to be Commander Burga of the 165th ADVENT Division and member of the Specials. The Muton was in full elite armor and wielded a giant hammer that he fingered from where he sat hatefully eyeing Tyler across the table. The Muton and his unit were famous for their brutal tactics and propensity for close quarters combat. They were used as a strike force to combat insurgent camps and little else due to their lack of caring for civilians.

Sitting on his hunches to Burga's left was Commander Anubis of the 95th ADVENT Division and member of the Specials based in the former United States. The Hound had black fur befitting his name and also was famous as the Leader of the Hounds mostly due to his position as Alpha of the largest hound pack in existence. Tyler knew Anubis to be a stickler of hound traditions and a feared combatant who could find and run down fleeing enemies. Anubis was eyeing Tyler warily while glancing over to his guards Jaune and Cinder, no doubt working out how much a threat they were.

Finally to Tyler's immediate right was Commander Vix of the 301st ADVENT Division based in former Canada. The Sectoid was entertaining himself with a metal ball that he was keeping afloat above his hand using his psionic ability. Vix was rather famous for his unnaturally high psionic power for a Sectoid which was nearing the level of an Ethereal. He also was famous for his reserved nature and hesitancy to go on the offensive instead relying on strong defense. He had given a quick glance to Tyler when he sat down before returning to his psionic ball.

Tyler's attention returned to the Elder as the projection widened its arms before addressing him. "Commanders, all though introductions are likely unnecessary, allow me to introduce Major Tyler R. Harrington of the 77th Human Volunteer Group. Major, these are the nine remaining commanders of the ADVENT Peace Keepers. As you might be aware, there have always been ten commanders in ADVENT; however, our last member was killed in the previous battle at Yellowstone, which brings us to why you're here," The Elder stated which immediately halted Tyler's train of thought.

"…There is no way he's going to do this is he?" Tyler thought in disbelief before the Elder continued.

"Because of your unit's previous exemplary performance in defending Tokyo and your success in fighting both the insurgency and XCOM, the other Elder's and I have agreed that you will take on the role of our tenth commander. Congratulations Commander Tyler R. Harrington on your new rank," The Elder announced before congratulating Tyler who stood and gave a slight bow to the Elder's projection.

"Thank you for this high honor sir, I will not disappoint the ADVENT Administration and will not falter in my duty to preserve our civilization," Tyler stated much to the pleasure of the Elder before him.

In his mind however, Tyler's thoughts where awhirl at this new post. From a tactical standpoint, the promotion to Commander was a huge benefit to the 77th HVG, as it allowed them a level of freedom and resources that other units could only dream of, as well as a great deal of privacy as Commanders had almost unopposed say in their units activities. This new authority would allow Tyler to ramp up rebuilding the 77th as well as provide him with a much larger recruitment and resource pool than he had before.

Before, Tyler had to recruit only humans from different military bases and recruitment centers; if he had wanted someone with more experience, then he had to recruit former human military through Price, leaving very limited options. Heck, the only experienced soldier he got though ADVENT was Hopkins, and that was only because nobody else wanted him, and even then doing so was a hassle with three months of red tape to go through because of the man's patchwork background or lack thereof. Commanders, however had an uncensored list of all recruits and available personnel regardless of rank, experience, background, and species. Commanders even had first pick of these individuals as well as the ability to request the transfer of personnel from other units.

In contrast however, from a strategic point of view, the decision of promoting Tyler to Commander made no sense. There were much more experienced officers to fit the bill with powerful units at full strength and connections with other officers to build trust in. The 77th HVG however was weakened, almost non-combat capable, with limited resources and next to no good relations with other units outside of the 3rd Viper Core. Many even disliked the 77th due to the unit being mostly humans who they viewed as incompetent.

It was this method of thought that led Tyler to the only possible explanation he could think of, this was a political move. By promoting a unit that had such high profile actions and were composed of almost all humans the Elders were gaining a huge boost in popularity with the civilian populace and promoting the ADVENT Administration as rewarding success. This would also serve to lower insurgent recruiting by gaining the support of the human civilian populace. The Elders didn't expect the 77th to be an effective fighting force they expected them only to appear to be in the public's eye.

This revelation angered him slightly, but Tyler kept his rage from showing, he would show them not to underestimate himself and the men and women of the 77th HVG. His mind already was formulating different plans and goals to bring the 77th HVG to an elite combat force, he had the resources; now all he needed was more experience and a technological edge.

Tyler sat back down and exchanged a nod with Vissta across the table before the Elder spoke up again. "As the 77th HVG will be rebuilding for the foreseeable future, let's hear from the rest of you regarding your unit's status and progress."

Commander Vix raised his eyes from his psionic ball and addressed the room. "301st at full strength and awaiting deployment orders. Patrols to locate enemy camps have yielded little results so far but we are extending our search area." The Sectoid stated before returning to his psionic ball.

"The 95th is at eighty-five percent strength but we will be bedding down for a bit after Yellowstone to recuperate our losses. We'll likely take some additional packs from other units," Anubis reported with a growling voice that was laced with aggression.

Commander Asslin looked up from his data pad and addressed the Elder. "My forces are at full strength and research is making progress in both Project Cypher, and Project Unborn. Also I have looked over the Elder's specifics on Project Avatar and determined that we will need more instillations to begin the project and increase efficiency," The ethereal stated, projecting his voice. Tyler didn't know anything about either of those projects, but determined from the agitated and clueless expressions on a few other Commanders that it was a Specials only project.

The Elder nodded. "Very well, we will discuss specifics at a later date."

The remaining Commanders all reported that their units where near full combat capability before the Elder drew the meeting to a close. "Very well, continue with your individual efforts. Commander Harrington, your new security access will be sent to your personal station upon your return to your base. Until I call you all again, you're dismissed," The Elder announced before the projection dissipated and leaving the Commanders to filter out the room with their guards.

Tyler for his part received a quick congratulations from Vissta before the Viper had to leave to attend to some tasks back with the 3rd Viper Core. Tyler had nodded and wished her well before making his way back to his drop pod with Cinder and Jaune following him. "Cinder, inform HQ that I'm going to be hosting a small dinner for the branch heads and captains tonight along with Hopkins if he's awake in five days. Also, tell them of the promotion and increase the security level of the base."

Cinder nodded. "Understood sir, do you want me to invite Hopkins? I've heard he's denied attending all other officer events before."

Tyler sighed. "I'll ask him and invite Dr. Val as well, that should get him to show." With his orders given, Tyler boarded the dropship while thinking of future plans. "So much to do, so little time," he muttered as the door closed and the dropship took off back to Australia.

: Five Days Later, 77th HVG HQ, Officers Mess Hall:

Hopkins walked stiffly into the dining room, his gaze flickering over everything of note. As he watched him Tyler could break down exactly what the man was thinking. Two points of entry, one of which he just went through. Minimal cover, unless the chairs were made of alien alloys with only Tyler and a few other officers already in the room including a Viper, his girlfriend Valerie, a few non-military department heads, and Captains Abrams and Lawrence. The man had reluctantly accepted Tyler's offer to join the dinner after hearing that Val would be invited.

"Command Sergeant Major Hopkins, arriving as invited sir," he stated, stopping a respectful distance away from the table.

"As you were," Tyler said as he gestured to an empty seat beside Valerie. "Go ahead and sit, the menus will be out shortly." Nodding in reply, Hopkins took the offered seat, allowing Tyler a good look at the recovering soldier. His charcoal grey dress uniform somehow managed to fit over his under suit, the uniform itself sparsely decorated. In fact, other than his name and rank, the man only had his wounded in action medal, combat action badge, and Infantryman badge on it. "So, Sergeant Hopkins, what did the doctors say about your new augments?"

Hopkins gave a noncommittal shrug as he scanned the assembled department heads and officers. "Docs say I should be clear for active duty in a couple of weeks," he answered. "Other than that, I feel fit as a fiddle." Lawrence grunted in disbelief.

"As your Captain, I still have to authorize you for duty, and after your performance in Tokyo-" Lawrence hotly began, only to be cut off by Tyler.

"Captain Lawrence, that is uncalled for, and unnecessary!" he exclaimed sternly, his voice level as he spoke, drawing everyone's attention to the human commander. "Command Sergeant Major Hopkins took the initiative to not only secure an avenue of approach for our aircraft to even support us, but he and his men took out the second jammer at Tokyo Tower and stopped an armored column from hitting the Palace's flank. The gear he and his foundry crews have made, Captain, is one of the only reasons we even still have any soldiers left. So please, a little professional courtesy if you can please."

The room was stunned at Tyler's outburst, only to jump as Hopkins let out a heavy sigh. "Ma-Commander," he said, correcting himself when it came to Tyler's rank. "While I do appreciate your defense of my actions, Captain Lawrence does have a valid point. Because of my actions, I deprived the 77th of a critical asset in the AO and medical resources better used on other soldiers. Besides Commander," he added with some degree of cheer, "It wouldn't be the first time my actions have… shall we say, angered some members of this assembly of fine individuals."

Tyler frowned at the fairly subtle jab at his own treatment of the older soldier. "Regardless, we aren't here to point fingers at each other," he said as waiters came out with the menus. "Tonight, we're here to relax, have a good time, and smooth things over with each other." Menus set down, everyone looked down to see what they had available to order. Taking his menu in hand, Hopkins glanced down at it.

Prime rib? Considering where the beef now came from, not a chance.

There was something else with a name that Hopkins couldn't pronounce, so that was definitely off the menu… no pun intended.

Sighing, he set the menu down and beckoned a waiter over. "I'll take the grilled chicken salad with the balsamic vinaigrette, a cherry coke to drink, and the '07 Napa Moscato to finish it off later," he ordered. Tyler and the other Viper looked at him in surprise.

"A Moscato?" I figured you a whiskey person Sergeant Major," Tyler commented.

"Only when things go horribly wrong," Hopkins replied as he folded his hands in front of him, his Viper-friend curling her tail around his right leg. "And in all honesty, I don't usually drink or care for the hard stuff, just doesn't agree with me. That, and the more tasteful years are in the hands of those who make far more than I do." A few of the civilians chuckled at the seemingly innocent joke. Tyler on the other hand groaned internally.

"So, Sergeant Major Hopkins, what made you join the Peacekeeper Corps.?" the Viper asked, leaning in to hear his answer. "I understand why Commander Harrington joined, but you are something of an enigma to us all."

Hopkins took a moment to collect himself as their drinks came out. Taking a sip of the soda, the Command Sergeant Major set the glass down and sighed. "Forgive me, you have me at a disadvantage, miss…?"

"Varasha," the Viper responded, making Valerie's head bow down in respect. "Major Varasha. I command the Legion Guards at the nest next to you." Hopkins nodded in thanks.

"Well then Major, I joined the Peacekeepers because I got sick and tired of losing people I cared about," Hopkins said candidly. "I survived the Unification War, which by the way was no easy feat, and I survived everything else Command threw our way. And in all that time, I've lost a grand total of three families. Not looking forward to adding more." Hopkins sighed as he looked down deeply into his glass. "But then, I wouldn't expect most of you assembled here to know how that feels."

Tyler groaned as his Viper associate gave him a look. [Commander Harrington, is this… normal behavior for your Command Sergeant?] She asked in her native tongue. Tyler sighed.

[He does take some getting used to,] he told her honestly as the table dissolved into separate conversations, Hopkins looking at the two of them with a smirk on his face. [Despite his many faults, his heart is in the right place when it comes to the safety and wellbeing of my soldiers.]

[Commander, words like his are grounds for treason,] Varasha said, narrowing her eyes as Hopkins rolled his.

[Better honest fool than lying genius,] the man commented, taking a sip from his glass.

[Thank you Sergeant, that's a good-] Varasha paused as she realized how Hopkins had responded to her. [You speak Viper?] Hopkins gave the Viper officer his best Gendo Ikari impression.

[For me to know, you to question,] the older soldier replied, grinning as the two officers looked at each other in surprise. "So, Major, how goes the construction next door?" he asked, gently caressing the knuckles of Val's hand. "I know I had Elisif help out as much as possible in getting as much of the outside finished up, but the inside is something that eludes me." Varasha herself looked startled briefly at the question.

"The next is slowly getting finished," she confirmed. "I have tried to make it as quick as possible for the families soon to be living there and for them to ease into living there. Any particular reason you ask, Sergeant Major?" Hopkins shook his head.

"Concerned citizen," he replied. "Besides, I've been helping out in construction your nest, so a few bulkheads still have my name on them." And so the conversation went for the next few minutes as the diners all waited for their food to arrive. And once the food arrived, Tyler stood up.

"Ladies and gentlemen of all species, thank you for coming here tonight!" he announced, drawing approving smiles from the majority. "Now, I know that I'm a little… well, young to be doing this, but I would like to honor several people here tonight that without their efforts, the 77th Human Volunteer Group would not have ever have come this far. First, to Commander Vissta of the Third Viper Core, who while not present, deserves special mention! It was by her endorsement that we were allowed us to rise up above our station, and for whom I hope we've gone above and beyond her expectations!" The crowd all clapped politely as Varasha smiled.

"Second, to our engineering teams, led by Mr. Cliff Reynolds and Felix Sanchez, for their efforts in making this old ship a home, and for the Vikings, whose fury rains from the sky with the cries of the Valkyries!" The Chief Engineer and Avionics Head both smiled as they had their turn in the spotlight. "To my soldiers, who continue to make me proud! And finally, I would like to mention the guest of honor tonight. From the beginning, I was warned that he was a troublemaker." Tyler paused as he tried to assemble his thoughts as Hopkins' throat suddenly went dry.

"Our first meeting, in retrospect, could have gone much better, but he arrived at a time where I needed all hands on deck just to keep up afloat. And by the Elders, he certainly helped make sure we did, as he helped train his soldiers, repaired this base, and through ways I have yet to fully figure out, get us everything we needed when we needed it. My first engagement with him, I thought him a fairly average soldier. After looking through his AAR of his next engagement, my opinion of him changed.

"To help fill in the gaps of logic here, this soldier has, in almost all cases, been one of the top scorers in our sim-battles, both on field and the command simulator. And while his methods are, and continue to be unorthodox, sometimes to extremes, I do not think that I could ever imagine anyone else capable of getting a mission done with excellence. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank Command Sergeant Major Hopkins for his service and dedication not just to the Peacekeeper Corps., but to humanity and our soldiers here. His input in furthering our capabilities, and advice on how best to be a human being, may not always be recognized by those who deserve to know, but… after a little over a year serving with him, I can think of no better soldier, or more deserving hero, than he. Sergeant Hopkins, please stand."

Slowly, Hopkins stood up as he looked at Tyler critically. Seeing Tyler give him a gentle nod, the Sergeant picked up his fresh glass of wine and looked at those assembled. "Unlike Commander Harrington, I hate speeches," he said, drawing a chuckle from his human audience. "I am not a hero. I… never have been, I never will be. I don't like being labeled as one. As a Sergeant, it is my responsibility to ensure my men perform their duties admirably. As their Command Sergeant Major, it is my job to make sure that they are trained to protect themselves and come home. It is a duty that I have failed.

"In Tokyo alone, we lost forty-seven young men and women who could have changed the world in so many ways without ever firing a shot in their lives. Another twenty-two will never see combat again. Out of those, eight of them have been medically discharged. Commander Harrington may command them, but in the end, each soldier posted to the HVG is not only my soldier as well, but a child. A child that I will never see come back home." Valerie reached a hand up to gently squeeze his shoulder, calming the emotional human.

"I mourn for them. My kids and everyone else that's died since those fateful days back in March of 2012. I weep for my training class when I enlisted in the U.S. Army. I wept for those who died in that hellhole that Los Angeles turned into back in '15. I don't sleep at night because of the faces. So, sad to say Commander, I am not a hero." Sighing, Hopkins raised his glass. "To the real heroes, may they rest in peace."

"To absent heroes," Valerie agreed, raising her own glass up as well.

"To absent heroes," the rest intoned, taking a sip of their respective drinks.

"I return the floor to Commander Harrington," he said, nodding to the young officer. Surprised, Tyler stood back up as Hopkins took his seat.

"…Sergeant Major, you are better than you think you are," he said after a moment before smiling ruefully. "But, we are here. Tonight. And we remember the people we've lost, and we will continue to fight for them." Tyler continued his speech as Hopkins leaned back, sighing. Valerie took notice of the sound and leaned close to him.

"Gabriel, are you okay?" she asked him in a whisper, the Viper looking at the rest of the table in worry. Her human nodded as he sipped his wine before setting it down.

"Yeah, I'm good," he replied before Lawrence glared at him from his spot at the table.

"Sergeant Major? Is something the matter?" he asked venomously. Valerie and Hopkins looked at the captain as they stood up together.

"Nothing too serious," Hopkins replied with a wave of his hand. "But I'm afraid I've gone and overstayed my welcome. I'm sad to say that some members of present company have soured my mood. I will though be taking my wine. Commander, requesting permission to leave?" Tyler looked at the two sadly before nodding.

"Permission granted Sergeant Major. Enjoy the rest of your night," he responded. Nodding in thanks, Hopkins and Valerie got up and left the dining room, arm in arm. Tyler watched them go with a sigh before muttering low enough for only himself to hear. "Be careful Hopkins, sooner or later that attitude is going to offend some very dangerous people."

: Five weeks later, 77th HVG base, CIC room:

Tyler should have been surprised by the situation he found himself in, but somehow he wasn't. Hopkins had proven time and again he disliked authority, especially the Elders, so when he basically revealed the severed head of an Ethereal Specials Major, Tyler groaned internally as the situation quickly spiraled downhill.

It had all started a week ago when Tyler deployed Hopkins, the newly remade Bravo-5, select members of Bravo-2, and Lupa to investigate a reported insurgent base given to them by the Elders. Shortly after their arrival, communications with them had been lost, leaving Tyler to scramble himself and a small contingent of troops from Alpha-1 to see what had happened although they did bring two Viking Gunships. In route, Tyler had been informed that the squad's beacon had been picked up by the base from an island hours away from the objective island.

When Tyler had arrived there, he had found them with wounded troopers, a different aircraft than what they had left with, missing a most of the troopers, and Hopkins quietly gazing out into the ocean in thought. After returning them to base, Tyler had learned from them that they had encountered no insurgents, but instead an abandoned XCOM facility and a feral Chryssalid swarm and even a reported ADVENT hit squad. They had lost people, but managed to blow the base and made out with an old XCOM dropship.

In other words, the usual SNAFU that came with Hopkins' missions. Although Tyler suspected there was more to this mission than met the eye from the way Hopkins was acting before the ADVENT Council demanded a debriefing.

Now the Council was in a shouting match with Hopkins, a match they were losing rather handedly much to Tyler's amusement. However it annoyed Tyler that they kept referring to the dead Ethereal as Commander Alnn when it was actually just Major Alnn. Alnn was apparently a favorite of the Council who totted the Ethereal a Commander to spite the actual Commanders they had no control over.

Tyler's musings were broken when the leader of the Council, the Speaker himself, decided to give Hopkins their verdict. "…Command Sergeant Major Hopkins, in light of the evidence you have given us, you have been found guilty of murder and gross negligence," the Speaker finally stated after a moment. "In addition, with the admitted murder of an esteemed Council member, you have also been found guilty of treason. You will be taking from the custody of Commander Harrington in two hours, to be transferred to a facility of our choosing. Do you have anything else you wish to say?"

Hopkins reached over and pulled out his knife, flicking away the week old brain matter from the blade. "Well, you're all a bunch of bigoted assholes," he commented. "Furthermore, Admiral Junia, while your defense of the Imperial Palace was admirable, you could have easily saved more lives had you used the assets you had on hand to open up decent lines of communication. And if you can't figure it out, then you really have no place to be commanding ground forces in the future."

Tyler thought Hopkins was being slightly unfair in that remark, Junia had taken over after the existing base commander had died in the attack on Tokyo. However, by then the remaining ADVENT forces had been scattered and surrounded by enemy forces, communications were being jammed, and what large forces she had contact with were under heavy fire. Tyler kept his face natural as Hopkins turned around and headed for the door but quickly looked back at him.

Hopkins looked back at Tyler and nodded. "I'll be in my office," he said before turning away and leaving the room. Tyler gulped as he looked back at the now furious Council… and the head that was still on his table.

Tyler stood straighter as the speaker addressed him. "Commander, arrest that man and bring him to the nearest detention center!" the Speaker shouted outraged.

Tyler narrowed his gaze. "With respect sir, I have other things to do than transport a prisoner to you. You want him, send someone to get him, I'll try and detain him until you arrive. Commander Harrington out," Tyler stated before canceling the call and making his way toward Hopkins' official office.

Along the way, he thought about the dialogue between Hopkins and the Council. It was obvious that Hopkins had wanted to be kicked out of ADVENT, otherwise he wouldn't have pulled out the Ethereal head in front of the Council. This either meant that Hopkins wanted to be executed or he was planning on leaving ADVENT permanently anyway. "Glitch, kill all of Hopkins' access codes and send a message to the flight deck crew that they can take a break for today," Tyler instructed, he had made a decision to let Hopkins escape the Council. Tyler had come to this decision after watching the exchange between the Council and Hopkins, during which one fact stood out.

The Council never explained why their favorite officer was in the AO with Bravo-5 that day, and why he attacked and killed a few of the 77th HVG's people. If Hopkins hadn't killed the Ethereal, Tyler would have been demanding his head. Oh well, Hopkins had just delivered it to him.

Tyler looked up and saw he had arrived at Hopkins offence and knocked before calling. "Hopkins? May I come in?"

"Sure, come on in," Hopkins answered, shoving the last paper into his bag before looking back to see Tyler's worried face. "So, what are you going to do?" he asked calmly.

Tyler sighed as he looked about the bare office. "Well, I am under orders to take you to the brig until the Council send members of the Special Tasks here to transfer you out of my command," Tyler said, eyeing the armored soldier. "However, I want to know why you killed Major Alnn."

Hopkins looked away as he contemplated his words. "…as I said in the debrief, the lives of my soldiers matter more to me than his. What we saw down there in that base will haunt us for the rest of our lives, and I regret that I was the one who blindly walked right in there. I do not regret killing the bastard that tore apart my troops in front of me, and I'd do it again," he answered. "Now, if you think you can stop me from leaving me, you're more than welcome to try."

Tyler shook his head. "I'm not stupid," he stated, huffing. "You're in power armor, I'm not. Besides, despite all the shit you've put me through, you would never do anything like this without a damned good reason. So, in that vein… Glitch, shut down all security services for the next two hours," he ordered. The lights flickered briefly. "You have two hours to get the hell out of here before they arrive," Tyler said, rubbing his temples. "Privately, I agree with your actions in killing Alnn Hopkins, however I won't be able to help you much after this. Please don't make me regret it."

Hopkins turned back and smiled at Tyler fondly. "No promises there kid," he replied, hefting his bag. "However, since we do need to make my struggle to get out of here believable, and since you're the only one likely to directly arrest me, well… sorry about this." Tyler saw the hit coming but couldn't react in time before Hopkins' fist collided with his gut, causing him to gasp and keel over. Tyler was painfully reminded that Hopkins in his power armor was an equal to himself with his A level gene-mods. As Tyler was kneeled over a slightly less armored knee connected with his head, knocking him out.

An hour or so later, Tyler awoke duct taped to Hopkins' chair nursing a headache. With a grunt or two, he ripped himself out of the chair using his strength given by his mods. "Glitch, alert security to the situation and have them assemble outside the hanger!" Tyler ordered before storming outside the office and drawing his side arm that Hopkins had left on the desk.

It only took five minutes for Tyler to make it to the hanger doors where some of the base security was waiting outside of. "You all understand the situation?" he asked to which they all nodded. "Good, then as your commanding officer I'm ordering you to make it appear as if you took all attempts to stop Hopkins from leaving. However, you are to allow them to leave uninjured."

The men looked surprised. "But sir, why?" one of them spoke up.

Tyler glanced at the men before turning to the door. "Because the 77th looks after its own. Now ready up," Tyler ordered before them men nodded and Tyler opened the hanger doors.

The first thing Tyler saw was Val gasping in fright as she saw Tyler come through the door of the hanger, strips of duct tape still hanging off his uniform as several security members flanking him. The rest of Bravo 2 was around the XCOM aircraft they had brought back to base along with Hopkins, Lupa, and her pups.

"HALT!" Tyler ordered angrily as Hopkins turned to look at him defiantly. "HOPKINS, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!"

Gabriel shook his head as he slipped his helmet on before making a mad dash into cover, loading a magazine with blue tape on the bottom into his MAG rifle. Tyler cursed in his head before rolling to cover behind the wing pylon of a dropship before Hopkins opened fire. The bullets did their job in suppressing the Tyler's security force as the old XCOM Skyranger powered up.

"Old Dog, we are green for launch, and our window for exfil is closing fast!" Oddball shouted as the Skyranger began to hover in place. Gabriel slung his rifle back onto his shoulder mount before turning around and sprinting. Seeing this, Tyler got up and pulled out a sidearm, taking potshots at the fleeing human. The Skyranger was almost completely out of the hanger when Hopkins made his jump for freedom.

Tyler had a clear shot however just as he pulled the trigger he diverted his aim slightly to the left so as not to hit Hopkins or anyone else in the craft. The bullet cracked through the air next to Hopkins' helmet as he landed on the ramp, the bullet landing in a box of supplies. Grabbing a ceiling rail, he turned back to look intently at Tyler just as Tyler flashed him a smile that only Hopkins could see thanks to his own enhanced sight before the ramp fully closed and the craft flew into the sky quickly becoming a dot in the sky and soon disappearing altogether.

Tyler watched it go before turning to the security personnel around him. "Return to your posts and announce a base lockdown. Remember, he escaped after disabling our security with a virus and managed to get away despite our attempts to stop them."

"Yes sir!" the men announced as they filed out the room.

Tyler looked back out the hanger in the direction the Skyranger had flown. "Good luck Hopkins," Tyler thought. Suddenly, klaxons started going off, indicating a fire hazard inside the ship. "What the hell?" Rushing to the CIC, Tyler looked at his staff. "Damage control!"

"Fire in X-War!" the attendant called out. "Looks like it's only in a couple of rooms sir!" Tyler nodded as he rushed down towards the deck in question.

"Glitch, which rooms are on fire?" he asked.

"Sir, the rooms in question are the office and workspaces of Doctors Hopkins and Val'leis," the AI responded. Tyler's face twitched.

"Can't say the sonuvabitch isn't efficient," he muttered as he finally rounded the corner leading to the office, where the fire crew stood by. "How long has this been going?"

"We don't know sir!" the fire chief exclaimed as Halon gas was quickly ejected into the room, and soon enough, the raging inferno was reduced to a mild glow. Slamming the door controls open, Tyler stepped inside and let his mouth drop in shock. The entire office, was for lack of a better term, ruined. Once pristine walls were now nearly pitch black with soot. Equipment that was rated to withstand explosions was now reduced to twisted wrecks, to say nothing of what Tyler assumed were a pile of hard drives on the table.

"Elders, what happened?" one of the firemen asked, stunned.

Tyler sighed. "It seems as though our former Command Sergeant Major has made off with a few things," he said in resignation. "Get in contact with all department heads, I want a report of everything Hopkins took with him."

Items reported missing include: All remaining combat ready members of Bravo-2, plus Privates William Harris and Kyle Fitzgerald, Dr. Val'leis, Lupa, and two pups, all research regarding 'Reflex Armor, Tau Directed Particle Weapons,' and Elerium-115, Nine M21A MAG Rifles, four M21G-HB Squad Automatic Weapons, four underslung shotgun attachments, one Multi-shot Grenade Launcher, one USAS-12 combat shotgun, one M35 EBR, one M107CQ, and one S3 Special Applications Rifle, 10,000 rounds 9.5x40mm Kaine rounds, 10,000 8x45mm rounds, 2,000 12 ga shotgun shells, 80 40x46mm grenades, 200 7.62x51mm NATO rounds, 150 .450 Magnum rounds, 50 12.7mm BMG rounds, fifteen medical triage kit, all species, twenty weapons maintenance kits, hound combat rig and plasma cannon, antique Elder plasma weapon, Various Personal Belongings, one bottle 2011 Jack Daniel's No. 9 Whiskey

: The next day, 77th HVG base, Communications room:

"Maybe if you were a bit smarter and not passed judgement on Hopkins until you allowed me to prepare a security team, he wouldn't have escaped." Tyler replied calmly to the projected image of the speaker whose face burned with fury.

The speaker was doing his best to blame Tyler for failing to stop Hopkins escape while the two were under the watchful gaze of the Elder Leader. Their argument had mostly been the speaker raving about Tyler's incompetence while Tyler had merely pointed out the speaker and the council's rash actions which led to tipping Hopkins off and allowing him to flee.

"Enough" the Elder interrupted "There was little Commander Harrington could do to stop the traitor from leaving given the time, likewise the anger the Speaker and the council felt at the killing of a loyal ADVENT officer led them to their rash actions. None are to be blamed for this endeavor." The Ethereal stated making both Tyler and the Speaker nod their head in acceptance. "Commander Harrington, I will be sending your new deployment orders later today. Complete the objectives detailed and you will go a long way in restoring the council's faith in your abilities."

Tyler nodded his head in acceptance before the holo-call was terminated allowing him to curse before making his way out of the communications room. "Arrogant little shit" Tyler thought at the gall of the speaker and his slander of himself and the 77th. "Lock him in a room with a power armor equipped Hopkins and see how long he lasts. Hopkins may actually take it slow for him." Tyler shook riding himself of those thoughts before returning focus to the matter at hand. A large group of replacements would be arriving today and begin their training. Once they were done and folded into the ranks of the 77ths combat teams the unit would be back at pre-Tokyo levels. Tyler was on his way down to the hanger to see their arrival.

As he entered the hanger doors he was greeted to the sight of five dropships full of fresh recruits disembarking with their personal effects inside bags thrown over their shoulder. Around the area sergeants were organizing the men and woman into groups that would be led down into the barracks. However Tyler's attention was immediately grabbed by the last transport in the line whose occupants included a group of familiar hounds and a single Ethereal.

Making his way over to the group who were looking about in confusion at the activity around them. "You look a little lost Shal!" Tyler called over the din of activity making the group turn toward him and straighten up at the sight of the newly appointed Commander approaching them.

Shal for her part stood at the head of her pack attempting to look as professional as possible before one of the highest military leaders under the ADVENT banner. Truth be told she didn't quite know how to address Harrington as on one hand they had faught alongside one another in Tokyo but on the other hand Tyler had been promoted to Commander and was thus likely to demand respect from herself and her pack mates.

Deciding to be safe Shal gave a nod of respect before replying "Commander, I'm honored to be accepted into your ranks."

Tyler gave an amused smirk before shaking his head "Come on Shal enough of that Commander crap, save that for formal occasions. When it's just among the 77th its Harrington for most, Tyler for friends, and sir if we are in a briefing or an op."

Shal shifted nervously unused to the casual greeting from a high ranking officer. "Understood Harrington. If I may ask a question?"

Tyler nodded "Go ahead"

Shal gathered her thoughts for a couple seconds before finally asking "Why did you decide to request a transfer for my pack to your command? As you know the Outcast pack is not well viewed by the hound species and the ADVENT higher-ups. By requesting us you are making yourself look bad before the eyes of the higher ups and you are losing face before the rest of the hound spices for associating with us."

Tyler listened to Shal's remark before nodding his head slowly "Yes I am aware of your species dislike of your pack, I am also aware of high command's distrust of you. I understand that there are likely many in the council and even the Elder's that are laughing at me and hounds that will never attempt to join me because of your pack being under my banner." Shal couldn't hold back a flinch at the human's rather blunt remark but her ears puked up again when he continued "However, I have seen you in combat. You're dedicated to your mission, your pack mates, and your allies. You have shown bravery in the face of long odds and have never faltered in your duty. These are all traits that any commanding officer would want and if the rest of ADVENT is too blinded by their own stereotyping then fuck'em. I'm a Commander, I don't give a flying fuck what their opinion is" Tyler stated with a smile. "Just means I'm going to laugh at their dumb expressions when your pack proves them wrong and brag that your pack is part of the 77th HVG and not theirs."

Shal looked at Tyler bewildered and awed that someone like Tyler believed that her and her pack could achieve greatness like what he had described before she bowed her head to him in gratefulness "Thankyou Harrington. My pack will not fail your expectations."

Tyler gave a reassuring nod "I'm sure you won't, now it's been a long day for you and I'm sure you want to get settled in. Ask one of the crew chiefs near the doors he'll lead you to your quarters. I'll see you tomorrow" he stated before watching the hounds leave toward the hanger doors before turning to the last occupant of the dropship who stared right back at him.

The last occupant was floating a few inches above the floor, obviously an Ethereal and a female one as shown by the protrusions in her robe. However unlike other Ethereals the robe was more heavily armored with black plates and helmet. She also carried weapons unlike most Ethereals as shown by the four swords she carried on her back and hips. The swords were thin and long also likely able to channel her psionic abilities if Tyler guessed right making them extremely deadly. Underneath her armored robe she wore a black skin tight suit, made of small titanium hexagons. She regarded Tyler silently from behind her mask while she waited for him to address her. The lack of superiority and rank designation told Tyler that this one was young likely just old enough for military service.

"Soleirus right? Your Admiral Junia's daughter." Tyler stated matter-of-factly. In truth he knew all of this was true as he had read over her profile before signing off on her recruitment application.

Soleirus nodded before her soft voice projected to him "Yes, Harrington" the Ethereal began obviously having listened to his conversation with Shal.

Tyler nodded "I admit I was surprised when your profile was forwarded to me by Junia and even more surprised when I saw it stated you were a CQC expert. From what I understand that an oddity for a member of your species."

Soleirus nodded "That is correct" she replied simply before continuing to stare at Tyler.

Tyler nodded slowly "I suspected as much when I saw you had no other requests for your services and Junia asked me to recruit you as a favor." Tyler was silent for a second before hardening his gaze at the Ethereal who seemed to straighten her posture slightly "I'll say this now, I don't care in what manner you fight in so long as you fight and don't endanger your allies. If you want to prove yourself capable do it on the battlefield, understood?" Tyler declared firmly.

"Yes sir." Soleirus replied with a nod.

"Then hurry down to the medical wing and see Doctor Hissa for a physical. If you're going to charge into the enemy, I at least want some of your blood in case we need to give you a transfusion latter. After that Hissa will escort you to your quarters" Tyler stated before dismissing the Ethereal who nodded and floated off toward the exit. Tyler watched her go before shaking his head and wondering what the future would have in store.

 **Aaannnddd Chapter!**

 **Sorry this one took so long to get here but as you saw it's a bit longer than usual. Anyway parts of this story is also in Dr1ft3r0I's story so special thanks to him.**

 **Anyway here is Edith again with another post chapter lecture:**

 **Edith: Hello again everyone! Today's topic is on the ADVENT Inter-unit Tournament as recommended by GoldenNightmares.**

 **The ADVENT Inter-Unit Tournament is a special event for the ADVENT military hosted on the moon of Titan. This event lasts two weeks and is a purely ADVENT only event with every attending individual being either a thoroughly screened scientist or engineer, an ADVENT politician or High Valued Individual, or military forces. Each ADVENT unit on Earth and the system sends a small group of their soldiers along with its ranking officer or his/her second in command to this event for its duration. Security is hyper strict and the chances of infiltrating such an important event is null as it would require access to a psionic warp capable ship that only exist in orbit just to get started.**

 **During this even there are a plethora of events and attractions such as a science and engineering showcase where various scientists and engineers show off their latest projects to anyone who is interested often looking for grants or purchases from one of the many visiting ADVENT officers. The second major event is the political and philosophical debates which are largely for the many Ethereals that attend the event. This event is even host to a large number of the ethereal council who enjoy the debates. The final and third event is the actual tournament were the visiting units and their commands compete in a number of events such as squad Deathmatch, point defense, search and destroy, once vs one duals, and finally war game. These events are played with non-lethal rounds with exception to the duals which go till first blood, knockout, or one combatant declares the other the victor. There is also an unofficial event that is the honor duals which often happen to settle grudges between individuals or units. These can get messy as they go until on opponent can no longer fight or is declared dead by the intermediary.**


	9. Chapter 9: Discoveries and Promotions

**I do not own XCOM that is the property of Firaxis Games and 2K Games. I only own my own original characters and the ideas behind some locations. Also, the picture was made by Luke Thompson you can find him on Instagram dramaticyeti thanks again for the amazing work.**

" _Hello"-_ Italics is someone thinking

" **Hello"** \- Bold is projecting one's voice via psionic

"Hello"- regular font for normal speech

 **Chapter 9: Discoveries and Promotions**

The shuffling of paper, the occasional scribble Tyler's pen made, and the low melody of Mozart was the only sounds that could be heard within Tyler's office as the Commander went through a stack of reports he insisted be delivered to him on paper rather than digitally. He honestly found the act of writing and reading on paper to be quite relaxing, and the reports wouldn't clog his PDA's inbox; even if some of the reports and requests were repetitive or ridiculous.

Tyler sighed as he tabled yet again another request for alcohol to be allowed on base and within the barracks, most of the requests coming from the enlisted men. The trouble was that if he allowed enlisted men to drink within the barracks, it could lead to more problems than he was comfortable with, and so Tyler was attempting to meet his men halfway and build a bar/club outside the base in the fledgling community around the Viper nest. Tyler pulled the next paper over to him from his desk regarding the 77th's progress over the last two months.

The new wave of recruits that had arrived at the same time as Shal and her pack were progressing well through their training and in another month or two would be ready for combat and folded into existing squads to replace the casualties of Tokyo. Another group of fifty had even arrived a couple weeks ago that Tyler planned to make an entirely new company primarily for defensive missions. During the battle of Tokyo, Tyler had seen the results of what happened to his forces when they were pinned down with enemies with a superior position and he hoped this new unit with specialized training could fill that role with the help of their new Captain Finch.

Finch was a twenty-three-year-old man from London whose parents were both bureaucrats with the ADVENT administration. This had allowed Finch to study at some of the more premiere schools, and eventually into a multispecies military academy. During his study there, Finch had shown an impressive aptitude for combat strategy and engineering, making many wonder which field he was going to eventually apply for. Tyler had gotten to him first by offering him a position to pursue both as a combat engineer. Finch had jumped at the opportunity, and now was teaching his engineering skills to the other members of his company while also working with the Experimental Warfare wing to rig up some new equipment they could take into the field.

Speaking of the Experimental Warfare wing, Tyler's promotion to Commander had given them access to research notes and technologies that they had previously been in the dark about, like the soon to be publically announced Shield-Bearer troopers. Tyler had requested the specs for the unit's armor, but it would take a while for them to be sent over and for the techs to go over them. In the meantime, Finch and the Experimental Warfare Wing had churned out a deployable turret system that was similar to the old world's Trophy system. The turret would identify incoming ordinance like rockets or grenades before destroying them with high-intensity laser fire. Finch was planning on bringing these turrets with his men so they could be used to defend the trooper's position from explosives. The Laser Trophy System, or LTS, was however bulky and thus had to be only used by engineers as assault forces couldn't afford to carry the system into battle.

The other major projects that the group was working on was alternate armor systems for Shal and her pack as well as the Vipers that worked at the nearby nest. Tyler had also told them that they might have to make something for Soleirus to wear to battle, but they were waiting on Dr. Hissa to clear her for combat, something the Viper was not doing for some reason that Tyler planned to talk to her about later today. The last major development was that the SIM room had been finished that allowed the soldiers of the 77th to practice combat in a simulator without endangering their lives. The room itself had previously housed the power systems for the battleships plasma cannons, which had been removed along with the non-functioning guns themselves and taken to a secure location.

Outside of the Experimental War Wing and the recruits, not much had changed for the 77th itself other than training and integrating the new personnel into their squads. In a couple of weeks the unit would be back to pre-Tokyo strength and in another two weeks would even have an additional company to field. However, Tyler didn't plan to stop there, the battleship that housed the 77th could fit a total of eight companies with support staff if he wished, and Tyler did indeed plan to expand his total forces to six companies. The remaining room on the ship would be left open for additional facilities that may come about in the future.

Tyler rose from behind his desk and looked out the window at the large dome structure that was the Viper nest and the buildings around it. The Viper nest itself was completed and now housed around fifty or so young mothers that had arrived to foster their young from either the wrecked nest in Vietnam or from the nest in Egypt. Tyler had asked Dr. Hissa about the Viper nest in Egypt and was told that the few males of the species were housed there under heavy security, so any viper that wanted to produce an offspring would have to travel there before moving to another nest to foster their young.

The buildings around the nest itself were mostly composed of housing for the doctors working at the nest and military structures for the 312th Viper Legion Detachment that guarded the nest. However, Tyler had convinced the 312th's leader to allow the construction of some shops as well that the 77th's soldiers could use to purchase items. These stores were run by Vipers that were either too young for military service or had been wounded to the point of retirement i.e., missing a limb. Recently Tyler had approved the construction of living quarters for the 77th's support personnel and their families outside the base to improve morale and increase business in the area. This decision was turning the small cluster of buildings into a fledging community including small parks, more businesses catering in many different areas of interest, restaurants, and facilities to provide things like power, water, and waste disposal. Altogether, the area was turning into a rather impressive small town helped by the supplies brought in by the 3rd Viper Core.

When Tyler had proposed the idea to Commander Vissta, she had, of course, questioned him on why she should provide him the supplies and personnel to build civilian structures near his base of operations. Tyler had responded that an increase in the appeal of the area would not only provide more incentive for Vipers to foster their young there, but also provide a better area for them to live more long term. Tyler had explained that instead of the mother returning to her place of work either as a researcher or a military member and having to bring their child with them, they could instead settle down in the town and start or work for a business or join the 312th, either way they could stay in one area and focus on raising their daughter. Living in the town both helped in raising the young Vipers, but also provided more non-military jobs for them and provided much better security as the town was safely nestled within the battleships anti-air net and ground access were heavily restricted and strictly monitored. After that, Vissta was more than happy to provide aid and between the two Commanders, construction was being completed briskly with eight new buildings each week. Vissta herself was actually going to be arriving later that day to inspect the town herself and see the improvements.

Tyler retrieved his PDA from the corner of his desk and glanced at his itinerary for the day. First was to go down and visit Shal and her pack to make sure there were no issues with the Hounds and their integration into the 77th, next was a meeting with Dr. Hissa to discuss the procedure he would undergo for his S-level gene mods, and finally he was going to meet with Commander Hissa around three in the afternoon for an inspection of the town.

Deciding to get a head start Tyler switched off the music in his office before departing and making his way to the genetics lab. On his way, he passed a few of his men and exchanged salutes and even had a short conversation with Private Arc. Private Arc and his three remaining squadmates, Private Belladonna, Private Nikos, and Sergeant Fall had all been taken off the active unit roster as their entire squad had been lost in the opening moments of the Tokyo battle. As a result, they hadn't been deployed with the exception of the trip to DC, and the four were now awaiting reassignment and from what Tyler could tell were anxious to find out their future.

Tyler left eventually to see Dr. Hissa, but not before telling Private Arc to meet him in his office around twelve with his squad. Once out of sight at the fire team, he sighed. If only Hopkins hadn't gone rogue, then the four of them would have already been reassigned. It was strange, he reflected, how much Hopkins had meant to the inner operations of the 77th prior to leaving. While he admittedly was a bit… oh who was Tyler kidding, a major ass, Hopkins made sure to get his shit done, and he always had the interests of the enlisted personnel in mind.

In a way, he was the glue that had kept the unit together, and the news that he had seemingly abandoned them was a blow to their morale that Tyler wasn't all too certain that they'd recover from. But still, there was truly no reason for him to provide Tyler with his own, admittedly less powerful judging from what little data remained, set of Reflex Armor. Shaking his head, Tyler decided to pursue that line of thought at another time as he approached the labs.

Finally, Tyler reached the gene-labs and after walking through the doors, soon spotted Dr. Hissa in the corner, intently analyzing a screen with Soleirus sitting awkwardly in a chair before her. "Dr. Hissa, Soleirus, am I interrupting anything?" Tyler asked as he walked toward the pair.

" **No Commander** /No Commander," the pair stated simultaneously before Soleirus levitated up to leave, only to be stopped by Hissa's pointed finger. "Sssit down right there Missss Sssecrecy!" Hissa hissed sharply to the Ethereal, making her return to her seat slowly in resignation.

Tyler raised a curious brow before sitting down in a chair between the two. "Is there something I should know about?" he asked.

" **No** /Yesss." The two contradicted before Hissa stared the Ethereal down with a glare before addressing Tyler. "During Soleirus'sss medical examination, I found that ssshe was sssuffering a gradual case of tissssue degeneration. When I confronted her about it, ssshe sssaid it was normal and refusssed to discussss it with me, ssstating it'sss a taboo to ssspeak about in the Ethereal sssociety." Hissa explained as she once again regarded the Ethereal who shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "In a way, ssshe'sss worssse than Hopkinsss ever wasss in regardsss to medical history."

Tyler shot a concerned look to Soleirus before addressing Hissa. "Is it lethal or contagious?"

"No, it's not contagiousss, but it will kill her eventually, though ssshe ssstill hasss a couple hundred more yearsss becaussse of itsss ssslow ssspeed and her ssspeciesss long life-ssspan," Hissa answered.

Tyler nodded before addressing Soleirus. "Why did your mother not inform me you had this condition? I would think that she would tell me about something as important as this since it would keep you from being deployed on combat missions," Tyler asked pointedly, much to Soleirus' horror at not being able to fight.

Soleirus seemed to debate with herself before sighing. **"Because it's not important for us Ethereals. All Ethereals have this condition, so it's not really helpful talking about your own species' death, thus making the topic taboo,"** she admitted to her commanding officer.

Tyler nodded slowly trying to wrap his mind around the idea that the entire Ethereal race was slowly dying. Dismissing a faint memory of Hopkins, he looked over at Hissa and saw she was staring open-mouthed and wide-eyed at Soleirus. "The Elders are… dying?" she whispered in stunned disbelief.

 **"Well, yes and no,"** Soleirus responded. **"The Elder's condition has reached a point that they have put their bodies into stasis while they work on a cure, this is why they communicate with their psionic projections,"** Soleirus explained.

"Why all the secrecy then?" Tyler asked while glancing at Hissa to see her slowly coming to grips with what they were told.

 **"Could you imagine the pandemonium that would occur if it was revealed that the Elders and the Ethereal species as a whole were dying? Many think of us as gods and their guiding force in the chaos of the universe, if they were to hear that we would soon perish, it would cause widespread panic and hysteria, as well as embolden our enemies,"** Soleirus explained as she attempted to convey how important keeping this new information secret was.

Tyler could indeed see how that information could be taken negatively by the more religious members of ADVENT. "Have the Elders found any possible cure?"

Soleirus nodded slowly **. "Yes, they have hinted to finding a possible solution but they are being very quiet about what it is in case it doesn't work. Though they have stated it will be a while before anything could be said for certain,"** She conveyed sadly **. "In the meantime, the rest of us continue our lives, waiting and hoping for a cure to come before our condition claims us like it has so many of our predecessors."** Tyler could only imagine living your life knowing that you and your entire species was dying and desperately hoping for a cure that may not come.

"B-but that makesss no sssenssse!" Hissa shouted in disbelief and confusion. "I've been ssstudying the tissssue degeneration for the passst week and have already found a cure for it! I wanted Tyler here ssso that I could talk it over with the both of you!" Hissa stated in confusion and disbelief.

Soleirus and Tyler now were staring at Hissa in disbelief. "…How have you found a cure for an illness that the Elders with all their resources couldn't find?" Tyler asked slowly.

"That'sss whatsss so confusssing!" Hissa declared before explaining "The answer was so easssy to find that there isss no way the Eldersss don't know about it!"

Tyler quickly understood that there was likely more going on here than he was supposed to know and so quickly leaped into action. "Glitch, secure the room," Tyler stated, which was quickly followed by the door locking and all non-essential equipment shutting down.

"Secured Sir," came the voice of Glitch from the speakers.

Tyler turned to the pair sitting before him and looking at him, wondering what he just did and who he was speaking to. "I'll tell you later, Hissa what's this cure you've found."

Hissa slowly nodded before looking back to Soleirus who was regarding the Viper intently. "Well the anssswer wasss rather sssimple, by integrating human DNA into an Ethereal, one can eliminate the tissssue degeneration and also ssstrangthen the body."

Tyler and Soleirus both regarded the Viper in disbelief that the solution was so simple. "Are there any drawbacks to this procedure?"

"Yesss quite a few actually," the Viper stated. "The procedure will require changing over thirty percent of the recipient'sss DNA ssstructure, resssulting in large physical differencesss. Sssome of which include growing a human mouth, hair, nossse, increasssed mussscle densssity by 110%, increasssed bone ssstrength by 50% , ssskeletal changesss, organ changesss," Hissa paused and glanced at the Ethereal before continuing, "Reproductive changesss, and finally a lossss of over eighty percent of the recipient'sss psionic ability. Becaussse of the sssheer amount of changesss, the sssubject would have to be put asssleep for over a month for the procedure to work while organsss are grown and implanted sssurgically in, followed by weeksss of rehabilitation. Thisss kind of rewrite isss even worssse than Hopkinsss' procedure becaussse of the sssheer about of changesss to the body."

Soleirus reeled her head back as the Viper listed all of the vast changes that would occur from this procedure. "Reproductive changes… eighty percent of my psionic power," Soleirus said in shock at what she would lose for having her future secured.

Hissa nodded. "I would bet that you wouldn't be able to have children with an Ethereal who hadn't undergone a similar procedure due to being incompatible both physssically and physssiologically. Alssso, the lossss of eighty percent of your psssionic power isss sssubstantial enough that I doubt you'll be able to float conssstantly all the time or form all but the sssimplesst of psssionic attacksss. Projecting your voice would alssso be impossssible without being in clossse proximity to sssomeone and the ssstrength of you psssionic abilitiesss you do retain will be much more depleted… alssso no more teleporting," Hissa explained, painfully knowing how much the Ethereals valued their psionic ability.

The three lapsed into silence for a bit while Soleirus thought over what she wanted to do finally she asked in a quivering voice "W-why would the Elders keep this from us?"

Tyler was the one who answered. "Because of the loss of their psionic ability." When the two looked to him questioningly Tyler straightened his shoulders before telling them what he had just worked out in his own head. "The Elders, above all others, value their psionic abilities more than any other members of the Ethereal race. Ethereal psionics gets stronger with age and the loss of so much psionic ability to the Elders is magnitudes stronger than yourself Soleirus. Also, the ADVENT coalition and the entire hierarchy the Elders have created relics on both the Elder's almost godlike status and their supreme psionic powers. Without their psionic powers being what they are now, the Elders will not be able to maintain control over those under them or keep tabs on the going on within their empire. It is likely that they view both of these scenarios as unacceptable, and on top of all the physical changes they would have to deal with, they ended up trashing the idea."

Soleirus seethed in anger. From what she knew of her own species and the Elders themselves, she agreed with the Commander's assessment of events but was still outraged by the Elders secrecy regarding such a breakthrough regardless of the drawbacks. Many Ethereals had died to their condition since the abdication of Earth to ADVENT, and it is likely many could have been saved by undertaking this procedure. If that weren't enough, birth rates among her species were abysmally low and even under a successful one, the birth was extremely painful and often resulted in the death of the parent. Soleirus's mother Junia had been one of the lucky ones to not perish thanks to her incredible will and slightly stronger body gifted to her thanks to months of physical conditioning her mother went through on her own to prepare for her birth. This procedure would allow females the option of giving birth to any male that had undergone the treatment as well, damn the loss of psionic abilities!

"I'll do it," Soleirus announced suddenly as she floated upward into a standing position.

Tyler and Vissta gazed at the Ethereal for a while before Tyler spoke up. "Not without consulting your mother first," getting Soleirus's attention "This is a big decision, and one the Elders and many other Ethereals will likely not approve of. If we want this to work we have to get the backing of your mother, otherwise, the Elders will rain down unholy rage against me and the 77th HVG. However, if we have the backing of a prominent Fleet Admiral and a member of the Ethereal Council, they will likely be unable to make any overt moves against us," Tyler explained to which both Soleirus and Hissa nodded.

"I'll need a week to prepare the procedure anyway, I want to ssstart growing the organsss ahead of time too ssso they'll ready to be implanted. I would want a next of kin'sss permissssion anyway for a procedure like thisss," Hissa agreed before turning to Soleirus. "If you could ssstay here for a bit, I need to go over what your preferencesss you want to implement on your new body."

Tyler stood up. "Well I'll leave you two too it, this is something that sounds strictly between patient and doctor. I'll discuss my own mods with you another day Hissa, focus your attention on this."

Hissa nodded and watched as Tyler walked out of her lab before turning to her newest patient. "Ssso, what color would you like your hair?" she asked excitedly as Soleirus had a sinking suspicion that she would be there for quite a bit.

XXX

Tyler made his way back to his office and was greeted by the site of Privates Ark, Nikos, Belladonna, and Sergeant Fall waiting anxiously outside of his office. At the site of their Commander walking toward them, the four quickly snapped to attention and saluted which Tyler returned before addressing them.

"Good to see you four up here so quickly, unfortunately, we have to make this brief today as Commander Vissta will be visiting shortly to inspect the Viper community outside. Please follow me into my office" Tyler instructed before making his way through the doors followed quietly by the four troopers behind him. As Tyler sat down behind his desk he regarded the four troopers standing behind him at attention.

Standing furthest on the left was Private Pyrrha Nikos, an athletic nineteen-year-old young woman with long red hair that she tied up into a bun when needing her helmet and striking emerald green eyes. She had graduated top of her combat class during the academy especially in regards to one on one combat. Tyler knew that she fancied herself a dualist and took great pride in her achievements and prowess. She was quite famous actually in Europe but despite her own fame, Tyler saw that she was a kind-hearted woman that always was trying to help her comrades and give advice when needed. She was the designated marksman of the four and was just as accurate at long range as she was in CQC.

Standing beside her on her left was Private Jaune Arc. Arc was an interesting individual in Tyler's own opinion. The young eighteen-year-old blond had come from a rather prestigious old war military family and applied to join the ADVENT peacekeepers without his father's consent, an act that Tyler understands created a lot of friction between Jaune and his father. Jaune himself was initially rather lackluster in physical ability but had been able to pass basic training thanks to sheer determination and will, pushing his body to its limit in order to prove himself. When he had arrived at the 77ths base Tyler had seen that behind the bumbling blue-eyed kid was a natural leader with keen instincts and a good grasp on tactics. Tyler also noted that despite the private having grown up with seven sisters he was rather clueless about women and lacked a lot of confidence in himself which combined with his rather poor physical abilities and awkward social skills made him a shoe-in for the unit clown. Tyler honestly hoped that some nice girl would see the young man's good qualities like his caring personality, loyalty, humble opinion, and when necessary confidence and authority Tyler had seen during Tokyo. Tyler had also noticed that since losing the majority of his squad during the battle of Tokyo, Arc had grown more serious often spending more time training and finding more time alone to think. Tyler had often seen him atop the ship watching the clouds in deep thought. Tyler would have been concerned if not for the fact that Arc had also dedicated himself to self-improvement and his remaining squadmates often trying to make things as easy for them as possible and being hyper-aware of anything that would threaten them. Tyler decided to wait and see how this situation would play out before making a decision to intervene or not.

Next to Arc was Private Blake Belladonna, the enigma of the team. Belladonna was the team's infiltration expert and was a striking raven black hair and pale skin with bright yellow eyes. She was often reading quietly to herself in a secluded corner somewhere and performed to keep to herself. Blake's background was highly suspect when she first arrived at the 77ths base but Tyler had managed to piece together her background thanks to tracking down her mother after a DNA test. Blake had apparently been born to Ghira Belladonna and Kali Belladonna seventeen years ago and after Ghira was killed accidentally by ADVENT forces during an insurrectionists attack had run away from home to join a resistance group called the White Fang based somewhere in the former Russia. She had been with the group for five years or so but left shortly after the group's methods became more violent and soon joined ADVENT with the sole intention of joining the 77th HVG after hearing about their defense of the Viper Nest in Vietnam. Blake hadn't spoken to anyone about her past and Tyler was able to see that the young woman was fighting with them as some sort of repentance for her former groups actions a fact that also explained why Blake had organized for ninety percent of her pay be donated to charities ranging from orphans, wounded soldiers, and alien civilian housing. Tyler had gone behind the woman's back and arranged for twenty of the ninety percent to be sent to her mother Kali who when Tyler found her was living near-destitute in the wilds of former Austria. Kali had apparently spent her families' fortune trying to track down Blake and eventually came to the conclusion she died sending the grieving widow into self-exile. She had been shocked when Tyler had shown up at her door and ecstatic to learn that her daughter was alive and currently a member of the 77th. She had decided to not confront Blake however as she was convinced that Blake was already far too ashamed of herself and if she saw her mother and the condition her departure had left her in would send her even deeper into her own despair. Tyler had reluctantly agreed but had kept in contact with the caring mother and did what he could to improve her situation and keep her updated on her daughter. Tyler had even recently organized for the thirty-four-year-old to move to Sydney Australia in order for her to be closer in case the day came when she could see her daughter again. As Tyler started to look away from Blake he honestly hoped that day would come sooner rather than later.

The last individual was Sergeant Cinder Fall the squad's leader. Cinder Fall was considered by many to be one of the most attractive females on base with flowing black hair, flawless pale skin, glimmering amber eyes, and smooth slender legs the twenty-five-year-old Cinder could definitely turn more than a few heads in the hallway however it was the small things that made Cinder one of the most coveted females in the 77th. The way she moved as she walked showed purpose and confidence, the sway of her hips and slight smirk both enticed those around her and also brought forth a sense of awe-inspiring grace to her movements. However, the predatory gleam of penetrating perception and calculating intelligence behind her amber orbs is what struck Tyler first and what prompted him to investigate the woman's background. Cinder had grown up in the slums of LA during the ADVENT's rise and had survived as a street urchin with cunning and sometimes brutal efficiency. She had made a name for herself in the criminal underworld by age fifteen but had tired of having to deal with constantly watching her back and making sure she wasn't stabbed or worse every day. She had joined the academy through a contact with an into the ADVENT administration she called Salem. Whoever this Salem was they got Cinder into the academy by her sixteenth birthday where she excelled in tactics and strategy though she was definitely no slouch in combat either. She had graduated at nineteen and served five years between various units but kept getting transferred for questioning her commanding officers and insulting them. She was eventually transferred to the 77th and had immediately talked Tyler into a game of chess which Tyler would later discover was her usual trend when under a new commanding officer. The game had started rather typical with both sides probing the other's defenses and reactions before Cinder had started to make 'mistakes' here and there. It took a while but by the third 'mistake' Tyler had realized that Cinder's 'mistakes' were actually her setting up her pieces into the optimal position for an endgame move were she would launch an attack with her knight to force Tyler's queen out of position and at risk from her now optimally placed pieces. Tyler would have to scramble to counter them and lose precious pieces before Cinder's black queen would finish him off and topple his white king. Now aware of her strategy Tyler had thrown a wrench into her plans by purposely missing the openings she was giving him and instead using the move to advance his pawns forward. This continued with Cinder growing increasingly annoyed that Tyler didn't take the bait, it wasn't until his bishop took one of her few defending pieces that forced her to defend that she realized with shock at what Tyler had done. Tyler had made Cinder focus entirely on his important pieces as they were the keys to his king's defenses however while Cinder was busy corralling them to the perfect positions for her trap Tyler's pawns had pushed forward and isolated her pieces while breaking through into her backfield. Now with her king in jeopardy, she couldn't move any of her more mobile pieces back to defense without them being taken by Tyler's pawns. The end result was Tyler's pawns promoting and putting her king into check-mate her king. Tyler had thanked her for the amazing game and quietly left back to his office. When she confronted him later about the strategy he used he admitted that he saw that she only cared about the pieces with greater abilities like the knight and queen, she neglected if not outright ignored the lowly grunts like the pawn. However Tyler also told her that the pawns like the regular troopers on a battlefield were the true keys to the battlefield, they advanced the lines of battle, broke through or pinned down the enemy's forces where they could but like a normal soldier had the potential with time to be something great. "After all," Tyler had told her "Heroes are born on the battlefield." Tyler's words had left an impact on Cinder who after their chess game was notable more accepting of her comrades a feeling which only grew after the events of Tokyo.

The four now stood under Tyler's scrutinizing gaze anxiously awaiting their fate before finally, Tyler began to speak. "I'll start off by saying that I'm sorry it took me so long to come to a decision about what to do with the four of you but recent recruitment surges and other developments that have been cropping up have postponed my decision. Finally however I believe that I have just the assignment for the four of you given your skills that I have seen myself during the battle of Tokyo."

The four of them stood a little straighter before Cinder ask "I can assume sir then that we will not be part of our old squad?"

Tyler shook his head "No, instead the four of you will be assigned to Shadow 1" he explained to which he received four confused looks.

"Shadow 1 sir?" Private Blake asked not recognizing the designation.

Tyler nodded before reaching into his desk and pulling out a small stack of paper and sliding it over four the four to read. "Yes, officially Shadow 1 is the designation for my personal guard. If I go anywhere off base you four will accompany me." Tyler explained receiving surprised looks from the four before him.

"Sir" Cinder began "While I'm honored that you trust us enough to make us your personal guard, I'm hesitant to believe that the four of us will be sufficient to guarantee your protection."

Tyler nodded acknowledging the Sergeant's point "You would be correct however you will also be joined by three two other troopers eventually to bolster your number as well as receive advanced gene modifications and training."

Cinder nodded before narrowing her eyes in suspicion "Sir you said officially before, what about unofficially?"

Tyler locked eyes with the raven-haired woman and gave a pleased grin "Thought you would catch on to that, you're correct Sergeant you also have another role. Shadow 1 and other squads like her will also be assigned to infiltration missions and other similar black ops that will place you in deep behind enemy territory or enemy camps. The significance of these missions will help bolster 77th operations and provide critical intelligence to ADVENT high command and the Elders. However, these missions will also serve to prepare you for eventually taking on White ops."

"White ops?" Private Jaune asked in confusion.

Tyler nodded "Yes, I selected you four for this squad not only because I can trust you but also because you don't completely buy into the ADVENT propaganda and like me question the Elders goals."

Cinder nodded "Yes while we were at the Commander's meeting it was clear the there was a division between those Commanders that were part of the Specials branch and those that were not. Also, the Specials Commanders seemed to be privy to orders and operations that the rest of us were not."

Tyler nodded "Yes I also believe that the ambush that befell Bravo 2 was planned and orchestrated by either the Elders or the ADVENT council despite their assurances it wasn't the facts and evidence point to an attempt to assassinate myself and whoever else had accompanied me if I had gone on the mission as I usually did."

"However Command Sergeant Major Hopkins went instead." Cinder stated in relation.

Tyler nodded "Yes I don't think whoever planned the ambush expected me to send someone else to a mission delivered by ADVENT high command. It would also suggest that my own promotion to commander was also an attempt to dissuade me from believing that the whole thing wasn't a blatant assassination attempt, however in light of the other evidence I have it would appear that the Elders and ADVENT have other as of yet unknown goals for earth that don't match up with their front as benevolent peacekeepers. More is explained in the files I just gave you."

The four looked through the stack of papers with visible growing frowns and narrowed eyes, finally, Cinder looked up at Tyler and stated her mind "I'm assuming then that these 'White Ops' are missions that go against the Elders or at least are missions you don't want them to know about?"

Tyler nodded his head "Yes, while I already have a group doing such missions they can be hard to reach and are limited in number with no real way to replace them. Shadow 1 will be used to either complete mission in their stead or help reinforce their operations. It also serves as a way to familiarize troopers with the 77th with these commandos." Tyler then turned to the four and regarded them with a piercing look "I cannot stress the secrecy involved with these operations enough as any leak that may reach the ears of ADVENT or the Elders will be enough grounds for them to declare myself and likely the rest of the 77th HVG as traitors and order our execution. Simply put you cannot talk about these activities to anyone or at all if you're not in a secured area like my office, don't even discuss it while on base if outside this room."

The four nodded in understanding, feeling the weight their new positions held "Good" Tyler stated seeing their resolve and understanding before he grabbed a small box from his desk drawer and stood up and causing the four to snap to attention. "Than as a result of your four actions and character during the battle of Tokyo, I think you all deserve a promotion."

Tyler made his way over to Pyrrha Nikos and opened the box "Pyrrha Nikos for courageous actions during combat that exemplify the values of a member of the 77th Human Volunteer Group I hereby promote you to the Rank of Sergeant with all of the benefits and responsibilities the rank entails. Congratulations Sergeant Nikos, I hope you will continue to serve the 77th with distinction." Tyler stated while pinning the new rank onto the red-haired woman's uniform collar.

Pyrrha gave a grateful smile before shaking her Commanders hand and saluting him "I'll strive to exceed your expectations, sir."

Tyler nodded and gave the young woman a nod "I look forward to it than Nikos." Tyler than steeped to the right before Jaune Arc and pulled a different pin out of the box. "Jaune Arc for exceptional conduct in the face of overwhelming odds, I hereby promote you to the rank of Sergeant Major and give you the position of second in command of all future shadow company operations. Congratulations Sergeant Major Arc." Tyler stated to the shocked Arc while shaking his hand.

"T-thankyou sir, but are you sure I'm the one you want?" Jaune asked not quite believing that his commanding officer thought he was a good choice for such an important role.

Tyler nodded after finishing putting the man's new rank on his collar and gave the blond a firm stare "I believe you have the makings of a fine leader Arc, work on your confidence and keep up your training and you'll be a force to be reckoned with." Tyler stated before giving the young man a nod and moving to the next in line.

"Private Blake Belladonna for your unwavering resolve and devotion to protecting your teammates I hereby promote you to the rank of Sergeant with all the benefits and responsibilities the rank entails," Tyler stated while pinning the rank on the girl's collar and shaking her hand.

"Thank you, sir" the quite girl stated not quite sure she deserved the rank given her past.

"You deserve it, Blake, you've bled and fought next to us and with us against overwhelming opposition. No matter what doubts you may have, you have earned a place here with the 77th HVG and as a member of Shadow Company." Tyler stated with a gentle smile.

Blake's eyes widened marginally in shock wondering at the implications of her commanding officer seeming to understand her hesitance of accepting her place in the 77th before the man's words registered and Blake was touched by the message behind them. _"No matter your life before you belong here."_ The message Tyler had given her obviously meant he was at least partially aware of her past allegiances or at the least suspected them but despite that was telling her he accepted her regardless. "Thank you, sir, I'll keep that in mind." She replied gratefully with a small smile to which Tyler returned before moving to the last person in line.

Tyler locked eyes with the amber stare of Cinder Fall and held them for a good ten seconds before beginning "Cinder Fall for exceptional skill, resolve, and tactics during combat operations as an NCO and in the face of severe casualties as a result of enemy actions I hereby promote you to the rank of Captain and give you command of Shadow company. Due to the nature of your new position close interaction between the two of us is required along with an in-depth knowledge of all aspects of the 77th HVG is required and so I also give you the position as my aid. Congratulations Captain Fall, I expect great things from you."

Cinder's eyes had widened at the huge promotion before narrowing in thought as she tried to discern her new role. Harrington had put her in charge of a still building unit that was going to be conducting operations for and against the ADVENT administration. Obviously, the Commander was aware of her rather dubious background so why was he putting her in a position that she could exploit for her own benefit. On one hand she owed Harrington for taking a bullet for her in Tokyo but on the other hand, old habits die hard and Cinder couldn't help but think of all the different ways she could use her newfound power to influence events to her own liking, a possibility that seemed obvious given her background… wait.

Cinders eyes narrowed in both respect and grudging acceptance and gave a small smirk "Thank you for the position sir and very clever."

Tyler for his part nodded "You're the best candidate for the job Captain Fall report to my office tomorrow at 1030 hours for a debriefing of 77th operations and again Congratulations. For now, the four of you are dismissed to pack your belongings and move into your new barracks, speak to Abrams for the new room assignments." Tyler stated before the four walked out of his office.

As Cinder left the room she couldn't help but marvel at what the Commander had done. By promoting her to the position as commanding the 77th's black ops Tyler had effectively given her access to information of 77th HVG operations that only Hopkins had been privy too before he left. However, by doing so, Tyler had also made it so that should Cinder ever try and blackmail the commander he could point out her own criminal history and accuse her of using her new position and resources to help the resistance. Tyler could have her arrested and executed on the spot and ADVENT high command wouldn't fault him if not even praise him for acting so decisively. This would normally have pissed Cinder off if not for the fact that Tyler was also still giving her the green light to using that same information and resources however she wished so long as she did it to help the 77th. With her being backed by someone like Tyler who had the Commander rank she could have almost unrestricted control of what will eventually be an entire company of highly trained commandoes with large resources and little to no oversight outside of Tyler himself. Hell, she could walk into any ADVENT supply depo and take whatever she wanted without repercussions merely by stating it was under orders from Commander Harrington. It was a level of power and influence that Cinder had never had before in her life and put her in a higher position than even the units second in command Captain Abrams.

Cinder had to use all her self-control to repress the excited shiver that crawled down her spine at the thought of her new role. _"Oh, Harrington you have no idea how happy you just made me. I'll be sure to return the favor~"_ Cinder thought as she glided out the door and down the hallway.

Tyler felt an odd tickle of foreboding suddenly at the back of his head as Shadow 1 left the room. _"Why do I feel that I just made my life more difficult?"_ Tyler thought before a call suddenly came from the room's speakers "Commander Harrington, just notifying you that Commander Vissta's dropship is on approach" the CIC's communications officer announced before hanging up.

Tyler nodded and gathered himself to see one of the most influential and one of his most favorite snakes on the planet. _"Well let's hope this goes well,"_ he thought before making his way out of the office.

 **Aaaannnndddd Chapter!**

 **Man its good to be working on this fic again. Between my new job, and balancing my other fics I finally reached a breaking point and had to reconsider what I could actually work on. So, in the end, XCOM: Humanity Rising and The Virus Tamer: Swords of the League were the only two I could continue writing while Guardians of Lylat, and Awake and Alive: Adaptation are going to be rewritten because of time constraints and me wanting to change key aspects of the plot.**

 **Anyway for those that may be confused about the role of Shadow Company in the 77** **th** **vs that of Price's group wait till Cinder gets debriefed for more information on that.**

 **Anyway, about the pairing for this fic I can confirm some individuals for you all**

 **Tyler: Vissta, Dr. Hissa, Ethera, Cinder Fall, Shal, Edith, UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN**

 **Jaune Arc: Pyrrha Nikos, Blake Belladonna (I like Blake/Jaune)**

 **As for the two unknowns one is a given and will be revealed later but the other I'm actually leaving up to you guys in a poll on my account.**

 **The options are:** **Chrysalid Queen, Junia, or Soleirus. You'll be allowed two votes were you can pick one or you two most favorite or you can pick the All Three option and your most favorite as a backup.**

 **Anyway until next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!**


	10. Chapter 10: Snake Tour

Chapter 10: Snake Tour

Commander Vista shifted anxiously within the dropship that was ferrying her and six of her honor guard to the 77th HVG's base of operations. Vista herself was anxious to arrive and tour the viper settlement that Commander Harrington was currently building near the 77ths base. Vista herself had contributed aid for the project by providing transportation, resources, and even convincing some viper mothers to travel to an area outside of Viper jurisdiction to birth and raise their young. It was this last part that made Vista anxious while she trusted Harrington's ability to protect the Vipers she couldn't be one hundred percent sure he wasn't doing this to increase his own popularity and not necessarily to help her species. She had seen it many times before were an ADVENT office makes a supposed viper friendly settlement to increase their publicity only for the vipers that arrive to discover the settlement is basically a large slum with barely adequate resources and commodities and guards that didn't seem to care about their wellbeing.

"Commander, we are approaching the 77th's base." The pilot announced shaking Vissta from her thoughts and gather her resolve.

"Understood patch me through." Vissta hissed before allowing the pilot to patch her comm bead to the frequency used by the 77ths traffic control center.

"Inbound shuttle four-two-two-three-seven this is Haven Control, you are entering restricted 77th HVG airspace provide clearance code and cargo." The operator at the Control center demanded.

It took Vissta a moment to remember that Tyler-Harrington she corrected herself, Harrington had named the battleship that housed the 77th HVG "Haven Base". Nodding to herself at the reminder Vissta keyed her comm bead "This is Commander Vissta clearance code Alpha-Gamma-Four-Three-Zulu-Eight-Hotel-Tango. I'm meeting Commander Harrington regarding the nest status."

There was a pause on the other end as the controller checked her clearance code "Affirm Commander, Harrington is expecting you. You are clear for landing pad 5 east, and welcome to Haven Base." The controller welcomed them before signing off and allowing the shuttles pilot to make her approach to the ship.

"Commander you will want to see this." The pilot stated before the dropships doors opened allowing Vissta and her guards to see the battleship they were approaching.

Vissta's attention and those of her guards were immediately grabbed by the completed dome of the viper nest and the small collection of buildings surrounding it. "Is that…the settlement?" one of her guards asked in awe, a sentiment that Vissta mirrored as they gazed over the settlement below.

Where Vista had expected to see ramshackle buildings made for housing she instead saw comfortable two-story buildings reminiscent of human suburban homes with fenced yards that ran along both sides of two roads that ran to what Vissta could only describe as a main street. The main street Itself was a large walkway that ran through a lush park with trees, benches, and even a fountain or two. To the left and right of the park where a number of small businesses ranging in services. At the end of the walkway was the front door to the large dome that was the viper nest. Behind the business ran two roads that connected them to the Viper nest and a group of larger, warehouse like buildings that Vissta suspected provided power, water, waste management, and other such services to the community. Near the nest itself Vissta also saw a small fortified outpost that served as the 312th Viper legions barracks.

The buildings around the nest itself were mostly composed of housing for the doctors working at the nest and military structures for the 312th Viper Legion Detachment that guarded the nest. However, Tyler had convinced the 312th's leader to allow the construction of some shops as well that the 77th's soldiers could use to purchase items. These stores were run by Vipers that were either too young for military service or had been wounded to the point of retirement i.e., missing a limb. Recently Tyler had approved the construction of living quarters for the 77th's support personnel and their families outside the base to improve morale and increase business in the area. This decision was turning the small cluster of buildings into a fledging community including small parks, more businesses catering in many different areas of interest, restaurants, and facilities to provide things like power, water, and waste disposal. Altogether, the area was turning into a rather impressive small town helped by the supplies brought in by the 3rd Viper Core.

"I… wouldn't mind living here." One of her guards stated in awe. Vissta nodded silently but internally was overjoyed, it seemed that once again her expectations of Harrington had been exceeded beyond her highest hopes. In Vissta's honest opinion this trend of Commander Harrington's was starting to affect her opinion of the human male. When she had first met the human after the original 77th had been nearly wiped out she had seen a light in the mans eyes that spoke of his drive and fueled her decision to move for the 77th to rebuild. At that point she thought of him as only an officer with potential to become a very capable leader. When she had met him again after the nest attack in Vietnam she had been blown away at the prowess the 77th had shown in not only rebuilding to combat effectiveness, but also innovating and creating a new type of gunship, defeating an XCOM lead force, and even deploying his forces to an area outside his jurisdiction to protect viper civilians. After that meeting she had viewed Harrington as one of her more favorite officers in ADVENT.

Then of course the battle of Tokyo happened which changed yet again how she thought of the human. During the battle Harrington and the 77th had taken major casualties to reinforce the cities dwindling defenders and establish a foothold in the city for ADVENT reinforcements. Vissta herself had watched what salvaged combat footage ADVENT had acquired and had been very impressed at the mental fortitude of the 77ths members and their battle prowess. The biggest change however was Tyler's promotion to Commander, before despite his successes Vissta had always viewed Tyler as a subordinate, a talented subordinate but still lower in prestige when compared to herself. However now Vissta had been forced to reevaluate her view on him yet again this time as an equal and doing so brought many things to light that she had never noticed before.

Firstly, that a couple months after the battle of Tokyo the mans demeaner had changed, whereas before Tyler had been cordial with all ADVENT officers and personnel now he regarded them with suspicion. Before he had been rather upfront with the progress of the 77th HVG but now he did his best to keep any developments with his unit from the outside world including ADVENT high command. Vissta didn't really blame him for this as she herself and many other officers did the same after they eventually realized that what ADVENT high command wanted wasn't necessarily what was best for the average trooper under their command. Still something about how Harrington regarded the ADVENT coalition made her think the man's opinion went slightly deeper than simple mistrust. The second thing she had noticed was that she herself had been sneaking glances at the Commander whenever the two had met to discuss the viper nests construction.

"Approaching the landing pad, stand by" the voice of their pilot announced as the dropship gradually descended onto the metal surface of the battleship. As soon as their transport had touched down the entire pad shook before its conveyer belt kicked in and lowered them into the large hanger bay of the 77th. For some of her guards it was the first time they had been into the 77ths base and almost immediately they were off put by the level of activity around them. Mechanics were hustling about the area either working on the various craft stored within the hanger or ferrying supplies around the area, nearby a squad of soldiers were being briefed by their squad leader while another group was standing around the area guarding doors. This amount of activity was a stark contrast to most ADVENT basses where the hanger was only populated by patrolling guards.

Vissta herself swept the area with her gaze and immediately picked up the sight of Commander Harrington approaching them in his uniform minus the usual cap. The Commander reached them just as their pad finished its decent into the hanger allowing Vissta and her group to disembark and greet the man.

"Commander Harrington, a pleasure to see you again" Vissta greeted Tyler as the two exchanged a handshake.

"Commander Vissta, welcome back to Haven base. I can assume you're here to see the latest additions you saw on your approach?" Tyler asked referring to the town outside.

Vissta gave a quick nod "Yes, I wish to see the progress for myself before I endorse the community to my people. Would you be so kind to give me and my entourage a tour?"

Tyler nodded "Of course, it would be my pleasure. If you would follow me please, and feel free to ask me any questions you may have." Tyler replied as he led the group out of the hanger.

The trip to the community took about fifteen minutes during which Tyler answered any questions the vipers had before finally arriving at the community's main street and beginning to explain the progress and additions the 77th had built to the community.

"The entire community is powered by a system of generators that utilize our microelerium cores, so power will likely never be a problem. The water supply is drawn directly from the water table and via the ocean after it goes through a purification process, so it could handle a moderately sized city much less the small community we have here." Tyler explained as the group walked down the street.

Vissta was so far impressed by the community around them, the facilities in place were obviously built to handle much more growth and the attention to detail and aesthetics of the building was much better than she had scene just about anywhere else in other Viper communities. However, what really struck her was the happy and blissful atmosphere that surrounded the area. All of the vipers she saw had almost blissful expressions on their faces as they either went about their journey to the viper nest or watched their young daughter play around the grassy park that ran the length of the pain street. It was the last sight that made her almost melt as the sight of a young viper playing was almost nonexistent in the more military oriented viper nests with their strict curfews. Mothers usually had to hold their daughters close to them as they quickly went from the office of whatever doctor they were seeing to their cramped quarters. However here were viper mothers relaxing while watching from afar as their daughters played with one another amongst the grass and trees and under the warm light of the Earth's sun, the sight was truly inspiring.

However, Vissta also noticed that Tyler seemed to be stressed. It was almost unnoticeable at thanks to the amount of time she had spent talking to the man she could see that he walked with a large weight on his shoulders. When Tyler took them to one of the local restaurants to eat Vissta decided to take the opportunity that presented itself when a viper waitress was about to seat them.

"Actually, could you get a both just for Commander Harrington and myself?" Vissta asked the waitress after shooting a glance to her escorts that shut down any complaint they may have brought up. The waitress shot a wide-eyed glance between the two commanders before almost a radiant smile appeared upon her face before leading them to a more secluded both. After the two had been seated and their orders taken Vissta turned to Tyler and clasped her hands together before addressing him. "Now Commander Harrington, would you like to share with me what's been bothering you? You look like your about to collapse under a thousand-ton weight."

Tyler paused from where he sat across the table before blinking and leaning back and giving a bemused smile that Vissta found somewhat endearing "Should have guessed you would have noticed that. Your too observant to let those kinds of details slip by Commander Vissta."

"Just Vissta when its just the two of us Tyler. I would like to think we are familiar enough with each other to converse without the formalities of rank when not technically on duty." Vissta stated hoping she hadn't overstepped herself.

Tyler seemed surprised but thankfully nodded in acceptance "Alright then Vissta, and sorry if I seem stressed ADVENT command is being rather unreasonable lately and is putting a lot on my plate. "

"Care to share?" Vissta asked both concerned and curios.

Tyler seemed to regard her before shrugging and deciding that he trusted Vissta a lot more than most others "ADVENT high command has decided that I'm the best candidate to organize and create additional ADVENT units. Not full military outfits mind you but a couple company strength detachments that will be stationed in various remote locations around the world."

Vissta widened her eyes in surprise at the by no means small undertaking "Are you worried you are not up to the task?'

Tyler shook his head "Oh no I can do it all right, its just a while lot of work heaped onto my plate that was already pretty full to begin with" Tyler explained. "The 77th's Charlee company is almost ready to be made combat ready and, in another month, or two this whole base is going to be swarming with new recruits to form new companies. I was originally planning for the 77th to have four companies total but our increased responsibility has put that total to six and maybe even eight in the future. Now with all of that recruiting and equipping to do I also have to expand the base facilities and staff to compensate for them and any additional specialized forces ADVENT decide to heap on me. They already are sending a chrysalid queen my way to start a nest here that I'll have to manage and prep for. All of this on top of readying for the upcoming tournament and staying on top of any potential enemy engagements means a lot of work on my end that's becoming a real obstacle as my timetables keep moving up."

Vissta nodded in understanding, the amount of work Tyler had just described was certainly immense and the fact that Tyler was undertaking such a massive workload while also building the community around them made her admiration of the man rise even higher than before. "Can you delegate any of the work to your subordinates?" she asked concerned.

Tyler shook his head "Not currently mostly because of the lack of qualified people for the task, a problem that I hope to fix at the tournament where I can recruit some of the most highly qualified people in ADVENT if I play my cards right. As it stands I'm going to have to mitigate what forces I allow to participate in the tournament itself."

Vissta nodded "And what forces are you having participate if I could be so curious?"

Tyler thought about it for a bit "At this point probably just Shal's hound pack. Other than that I'm going to be there for the science and technology presentation and individual competition, just as an observer mind you."

Vissta nodded "Not going to compete yourself? There is an even that matches the Commanders against each other."

Tyler shook his head "No thanks, I have yet to undergo gene-modifications that you and the other Commanders have and as much fun as it would be for you to watch me get thrown about, I'll have to say no thankyou to that."

Vissta nodded in understanding before the two paused their conversation as their food arrived. After the waitress left with an encouraging smile to Vissta for some reason she addressed Tyler again "If you are interested I myself will be participating in an honor dual against Commander Sisstha."

Tyler rose an intrigued brow "Are you now, well I defiantly wont miss that. It will be a rather important match for your people if I'm not mistaken correct?"

Vissta nodded "Yes my people will be watching, and the winner would greatly increase their chances of becoming the leader of the Vipers."

Tyler nodded "The next Queen of the Vipers also has to have a mate correct? How is the completion for that going?" Tyler asked as he began to cut into his steak.

Vissta shot Tyler a glance before returning her gaze to her plate so he wouldn't see the secretive glint in her eyes "Sisstha has the edge for now as her connections as a member of the specials allows her access to the males of my species. If rumors are to be believed she has been enjoying their company even without choosing one as her desired mate. As for myself, I have increased the number of potential candidates" she answered cryptically. What she didn't tell Tyler was that the number had increased from zero to one. "Currently I'm taking my time and thoroughly considering them."

Tyler nodded "Well, bst take however long you need to, while Sisstha seems okay with picking any random male viper you do have to spend the rest of your life with your chosen mate. Best make sure their someone you'll be happy long term with."

Vissta nodded and gave him a knowing look that he didn't see "Oh yes, I am but so far the prospects are looking good."

Tyler nodded as he gave Vissta an encouraging smile "Well than I hope it goes well" he stated before raising his glass "To future prospects, may they work out for the both of us."

Vissta raised her own glass and taped Tyler's "Oh yes I intend it too" and with that the two relaxed and went to idle chatter unknowingly being watched by both Vissta's and the waitresses excited gazes. The rest of the day was spent without incident with Vissta asking Tyler and some of the resident viper's questions before having to return to her own unit but assuring Tyler that she would endorse the expansion of his growing community.

Three months later:

77th HVG Headquarters, formerly Australia

July 19, 2030

Tyler was asleep in his cabin when the alarms went off. Waking near instantly, the young Commander quickly through on some BDU's and strapping a pistol to his side moved to the bridge, the room already bustling with activity. "Report!" he barked the moment he stepped inside.

"Sir, we're getting reports of a terror attack in L.A., HIGHCOM has further information standing by in the situation room sir!" one of the techs said hurriedly. "We're trying to gain appropriate access to the battlenet!"

Memories of Tokyo six months ago flashed through Tyler's mind as he remembered the last 'terror' attack he had responded to but shook those thoughts out of his mind as he thanked the tech and stepped inside the situation room, where the Council soon flickered into existence. "Speaker, what's the situation?" Tyler asked, saluting the Speaker as he did so.

"Commander, a most heinous act has just started in Los Angeles!" the Speaker declared, looking at Tyler from just above his Lennon specs. "Rebels have attacked a vital relay in the city, threatening to bring down our eyes in that great city! More importantly, this relay is scanning a vessel currently in dry dock at the same city!"

"Do we know who is claiming responsibility?" Tyler asked.

"XCOM" the Speaker sneered in disdain as he answered.

Tyler went rigid as the Speaker continued. "Their forces have been stalled for the time being, but they may yet break through the line and take the relay! This must not happen!" Tyler quickly caught the Speaker's drift.

"We'll get it done," he announced, earning several approving nods from the Council. "I will deploy them immediately." Without waiting for the Speaker to finish or continue, he strode out of the situation room, pulling up a list of troops he could use on his PDA. Alpha Company was on a field exercise, testing to see who would be sent to Titan with him, and Bravo Company was either helping to protect the Viper nest or deployed on patrol. Calling them back would take far too long. That left only one other company he could use… so stepping over to the base intercom, he opened up a channel.

"Captain Finch, report to the hangar bay immediately, Captain Finch to the hangar bay," he announced calmly. "Charlie-One, Charlie-Two, assemble in hangar bay with Captain Finch, C-1, and C-2, report to the hangar bay." Clicking the comm off, he made his way into the access lift and made his way into the hangar bay itself. He didn't have to wait long as Finch and his troops spilled out of the armory.

"What's the situation sir?" he asked, concerned. Tyler looked over the green troops, feeling tense in unease.

"XCOM has attacked a tactical relay in the greater Los Angeles area," Tyler briefed, crossing his arms behind himself. "You and your men will be going in to reinforce and repel their forces. Any questions so far?"

"Sir, how many of those XCOM freaks are we looking at?" one of the soldiers asked, her fingers tapping the edge of her rifle nervously. Tyler sighed.

"I don't know, but the local ADVENT forces have them stalled for now," he told her. "Good luck, and come back safely."

"Commander, I would like to join this battle!" Tyler looked over and saw Shal running up to the gathered soldiers with Ruby and Raksasa trailing her. The second thing he noticed was that Ruby was wearing the new weapon system they had created for the hounds.

Tyler regarded the three for a second before glancing over to Finch "Your call Captain," the Commander stated. Finch gulped and nodded no doubt somewhat nervous of leading not only his own company into their first engagement but also a squad of hounds, something that was a first for the whole 77th. "Okay Shal, hop on in and Ruby don't get fancy with the new tech. This isn't exactly an ideal field test" he told her, gesturing to one of the dropships. The Hound nodded in appreciation as she and her pack mates entered the craft.

Finch looked at Tyler and saluted him as his troops filed inside. "We'll get the job done sir," he said simply.

"I know you will Captain. Godspeed," Tyler responded, returning the salute. He stepped away, mostly to avoid the backwash from the dropship engines as they roared to life. In moments, the two dropships containing the strike force took off, leaving Tyler alone in the hangar with the various air crews. Sighing, he strode back to the lift and made his way back into the C&C, his expression grim all the way. "Pull up any and all tactical data available on the L.A. Relay," he ordered as he walked in, stopping in front of the holotable. In moments, a mostly accurate topographical map of the city coalesced into view, which quickly zoomed in on the southern portion of the city, settling on a war-torn city block.

"What in the actual fuck," Tyler whispered in stunned surprise. He could count about thirty enemy soldiers still alive, and at least a solid dozen enemy corpses on the ground but what had grabbed his attention were the ruined wrecks of two out of three Mk. IV Sectopod Heavy Assault Walkers on the streets, an ADVENT unit that only could be found amongst the Specials.

It must be serious if the Specials are sending heavy armor in to defend this place, he thought as he shifted the camera to where the remaining enemy soldiers were engaging the last Sectopod. "Control, what's Captain Finch's ETA?" Tyler asked.

"Sir, Charlie Actual will be landing in the AO in… eight minutes," reported Sub-Captain Hawke, the Air Liaison Officer's face set in a neutral grimace. Come to think of it, when did that guy ever smile? Shaking his head, Tyler looked back at the map, watching as a small set of XCOM rebels opened fire on the last Sectopod, the red flashes of MAG pulse weapons almost relaxing-

"Fuck!" Tyler swore in realization at seeing the advanced weaponry. "Get Captain Finch on the line now!"

A communications tech turned to look at him "Sir, I'm picking up interference from the AO, it might be the relay, or some kind of barely shielded generator sir, I-I can't tell!" he stammered Tyler whirled around, his face twisted with a grimace.

"You mean to tell me that I can't contact Finch and tell him that Hopkins and Phoenix squad is down there in the damn crossfire!?" he yelled, slamming a fist into the table before reeling it in and taking deep breaths. He couldn't lose his cool despite Hopkins leaving and the unease truce the two groups had they were still technically enemies and if they found themselves on opposite ends of the battlefield they would have little choice but to engage each other, a decision that he made sure all his troopers understood. "Keep trying to reach them, in the meantime get me Junia and relay the situation to her!" Tyler ordered before making his way to the tactical table to watch events via satellite.

Dropship 3-1, Just outside San Francisco

July 19, 2030

The light went red, and Ruby readied her combat harness for battle for its battlefield debut. The young Hound was eager to fight, and with her new MAG turret, Ruby was almost drooling to test it out. Seemingly sensing her excitement, her Alpha turned to look at her. [Ruby, behave yourself!] Shal growled softly, admonishing her gently. Ruby whined as her ears folded back.

[But, I get to test the new harness out!] she whimpered as the door opened, a rush of already hot California air buffeting the troops inside.

[I understand your excited but stay calm, this is our packs debut performance amongst the 77th HVG and I will not embarrass the Commander!] Shal stated before the hounds crouched down in preparation as the dropship neared the ground.

"Alright, go go go!" the crew chief shouted while gesturing to the open doors. In sequence, the troops jumped out of the dropship, the Hounds following close behind as they leapt out and landed on the cratered ground between the enemy forces and the relay building. The troopers landed first all using their thrust packs to slow their fall and roll into cover, Ruby even saw a few of the more veteran members firing upon the XCOM operatives almost instantly after coming out of their roll.

Ruby herself landed quickly and hopped into a shallow crater before looking around. Ruby saw that the area they were in was, in essence, a ruin. The landscape was marked by shallow craters, bodies, ruined masonry from a partially collapsed building and destroyed sectopods. Unfortunately, the ruins seemed to be currently shooting bullets at them from XCOM forces hidden throughout the area behind cover. Shal and Raksasa split off and found cover to either side of her before they began to lay down covering fire for their allies. The two hound's heavy plasma cannons ripped apart enemy cover and left the now exposed enemies running for cover.

[No, you don't!] Ruby growled before disengaging the safeties of her turret and aiming down range at the exposed hostiles. While her weapon didn't have the power of her Alpha and pack mate's plasma cannons the MAG pulse gun mad up for it with its sheer rate of fire. A mental twitch, and a lance of magnetically accelerated rounds flew out and sliced an XCOM operative in half, bisecting him from shoulder to hip in a messy spray of blood. Ruby blinked at the results, and her tail began to wag, she loved this gun. The new MAG pulse turret was a new variant of the standard MAG rifle that utilized a larger frame and housed an improved cooling system to keep the weapon from overheating allowing the weapon to fire continuously so long as it had power. To implement this the 77th had rigged a single microelerium core to her harness basically turning the once MAG rifle to what was essentially a MAG Minigun. The only down side was that the weapon system was so heavy and bulky that only a hound could carry it into battle, not that Ruby was complaining.

Suddenly she saw another soldier pop up out of cover with a grenade launcher but before Ruby could do anything the enemy operative fired a grenade directly at her position. Just as the grenade made it about halfway it was intercepted by three rapid streaks of red that completely destroyed the projectile. Turning her head Ruby saw that Charlee companies second squad called C-2 had landed and deployed their new LTS turrets behind the defender's lines. The LTS turrets or the Laser Trophy System was the new brain child of the Experimental Warfare Wing of the 77th. The system utilized the advanced threat identification system installed in the hounds of the 77th's visors to pinpoint incoming projectiles utilizing three different hounds to triangulate the position and path of the projectile before relaying the information to a small laser turret that was carried into battle and deployed by one of the 77ths engineers in C-2. Ruby had had her doubts about how accurate the system could be but she was none the less glad to be proven wrong.

Raksasa took care of the enemy grenadier with an accurate shot from his plasma cannon that blew through the operatives cover sending the writhing body flying back ten feet. Ruby started engaging targets as they appeared while listening to the companies comms net for important information.

"Sniper restaurant second floor!"

"Enemy advancing on the left!"

"Vandal suppress your three o'clock!"

"Enemy machine gunner bearing two-four-zero!"

Ruby did her best to keep engaging targets while listening to the information being relayed through the communications net, her rapid fire doing a superb job at suppressing the enemy or raking down advancing enemies. Soon she heard Charlee company's captain start issuing orders. "Charlee 2-3 suppress that sniper! 1-2 and 1-3 choke off that enemy advance on the left, 2-2 support them! 2-1 how far are we with those defenses?" Finch ordered his troopers and quickly took over the situation.

"Sir, LTS turrets fully deployed, currently working on installing a signal booster to clear up long range comms" one of the engineers in Charlee 2-1 reported. "Just give us another minute here sir!"

"Understood, as soon as you're done move to the relay and increase its firewalls or quicken the scan." Finch ordered. "Amaterasu hold the front with your pack, 1-1 and the remaining friendlies will back you up!" Finch instructed Shal who acknowledged before addressing Ruby and Raksasa.

[Ruby suppress the enemy directly in front of us! Raksasa, you and me will destroy the enemies cover. Do not let them advance any further!] Shal ordered much to Ruby's glee. Ruby wasted no time as unleashed the full firepower of her MAG cannon at fully automatic upon the enemy, racking her fire across their lines, Ruby really liked her new baby. As time went on many of the XCOM operatives were either wounded or killed thanks to the 77th's heavy firepower and XCOM's inability to use explosives due to the LTS turrets. However the dragoons had also taken some casualties in the form of five wounded troopers, two rather severely from an enemy heavy.

"Sir we got comms back up!" a soldier from 2-2 announced before a familiar voice broke over the 77ths comms "Finally got through! Attention all ADVENT forces at the LA relay this is Commander Harrington of the 77th HVG. The mission is successful, the relay has pinpointed the remaining bombs and we're disposing of them now. Admiral Junia is dispatching the battleship to provide you support and will be there shortly. Hold fast Troopers!" her commander's voice announced much to the defenders relief.

"X-Ray Charlie, X-Ray Charlie, abort, abort, abort!" a new human voice suddenly yelled out in panic. "All XCOM forces, get the fuck out of here now, that battleship's heading right for you! I'm going to try and draw it off as best as I can!" The human paused as he readied himself. "Attention all ADVENT forces, this is XCOM Field Commander Monnot broadcasting on all frequencies! My location is Los Angeles International Airport, if you assholes want me, you're going to have to work for it! Monnot out!"

Ruby paused and saw the remaining XCOM forces rapidly pulling out [Enemy in retreat, permission to pursue!?] Ruby telepathically broadcasted to Finch.

Finch took a moment to think about it knowing that the enemy was vulnerable as they desperately ran but also aware of Tyler's orders not to engage Old Dog's unit unless necessary. Looking out to the sea he saw the battleship swinging around toward them and launching fighters. "Negative all 77th HVG elements hold your positions. Our mission priority is the relay! 2-1 relay to command that we need a medivac for the wounded, everyone else secure the perimeter. Out-fucking-standing work Charlee! Shal, you and your hounds are definitely invited to the celebration party. Drinks are on me tonight!"

"Sir, yes sir!" replied the happy men and women of the 77th's Charlee company looking forward to driving their CO bankrupt that night.

 **Aaaannnnddddd Done! Holy Shit its been awhile since I last updated but life has been crazy recently for me. Anyway, I won't bother you with the details but now you know I'm not dead in a ditch somewhere so that's good news for most of you but as for the rest of you… next time use better poison.**

 **So, in this chapter we got to see a little Vissta and Tyler bonding along with seeing how the viper Nest is really taking off. I also announced that Tyler will be trying to get the 77** **th** **HVG to eight companies of combat personnel in the future but this is still some ways off.**

 **However, I also revealed that ADVENT high command is making Tyler start to create smaller units that would be stationed around the world. These units are not going to be a part of the 77** **th** **HVG but will likely be trained by them and maybe even have some of the 77ths personnel in their units. Now I'm specifically mentioning this because I thought that this would be a chance for you my reader to get involved with the story. I want you all to create your own ADVENT unit! There are a number of rules you will have to follow so pay attention. THAT MEANS YOU NUMBNUTS!**

 **Rule 1: All personnel in the unit must be human, with only basic gene-modification.**

 **Rule 2: None can be psionically gifted**

 **Rule 3: Units must have at minimum twenty members but a maximum of fifty.**

 **Rule 4: The unit must have a single specialized role such as desert warfare, reconnaissance, tracking, amphibious assaults, sabotage, cyberwarfare, ect.**

 **Rule 5: The outfit would be equipped with the same weaponry the 77** **th** **has (currently) MAG rifles but you can go lower on the tech if you wish to.**

 **Now with those rules out of the way here is the templet for submissions, please remember that your unit may not be primarily featured in my story but may be referenced a few times at minimum.**

 **Unit name: (example: Screaming Eagles)**

 **Logo: (the unit's logo and slogan)**

 **Base Location: (anywhere in the world but pick something that makes sense for your unit's specialization)**

 **Specialization:**

 **Commanding Officer: (name and description)**

 **Number of personnel: (20-50)**

 **Description: (Who are they, what do they do, how do they do it and any other important notes)**

 **Also include any cosmetic differences in their uniform from the that of the 77** **th** **HVG**

 **Anyway, that's it for now until next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review.**


	11. Chapter 11: Down Time

Chapter 11: Down Time

: 6 hours after the Battle of LA:

Tyler felt the deep base of the stereo against his body as techno music blared throughout the nightclub as he watched people on the floor below dance under the pulsing multicolor strobe lights that provided the only lights inside the building other than the neon near the bar and DJ booth. The nightclub was called The Vortex and was one of the few buildings opened at night within the viper community. The building was owned by a retired viper named Fissla who had been injured during the early years of ADVENT's occupation, taking a grenade at close range had perforated her lungs to a point that further military service was impossible. Instead the old viper had lived in some of the shadier areas of various Viper settlements and had taken up bartending as a job to help pay the bills. When she had heard about the 77ths Viper community she had gathered together her meager saving and moved to the community and had sent Tyler a message about her intentions to open a bar/nightclub for civilians and soldiers. She had been overjoyed to receive a three-story building and a request from Tyler personally to send her specifications to him for him to forward to the engineers. The result was a large bottom floor hosting a large dance floor set into a slight depression so that the tables, counters, and booths that people used for eating and resting between dancing could see over the heads of the crowd to the DJ's stage and the large screens that flashed as assortment of colors while seven hundred different lights varying from neon, strobes, and dark lights danced around the club on their motorized rotations from the ceilings and walls. The entire dancefloor also has an almost completely transparent cloud of mist that Tyler new was laced with perfume which invigorated the body and masked the smell of sweat that usually assailed such places, it also allowed the buildings occupants to see the various beams of light dancing about the crowd. To the left of tables was a long bar worked by a young viper who was happily chatting with a group of Charlee company troopers that didn't feel like dancing with the rest of their unit.

Tyler watched them quietly from the second floor that was a series of walkways and balconies that made an H shape with a second bar situated in the middle and allowing guests to watch the festivities below and enjoy themselves while offering a little more privacy. It also allowed Tyler to smoke the cigar in his mouth without the smoke bothering anyone below.

"You could always join them" a voice hissed nearby. Turning Tyler was greeted by the sight of Fissla herself behind the bar he was sitting at, cleaning a glass and sending him a small smile.

Tyler returned the smile before shaking his head "Not really in the dancing mood, I'm more for taking some time to relax and watching them enjoy their victory. Besides Finch is doing enough dancing for three people" Tyler said while pointing with his cigar to Finch down in the front of the dance floor wildly dancing to the amusement and enjoyment of his allies. Ruby was also dancing with the Captain doing an interesting job of pivoting on her hind legs and hopping with her front while shaking her head side to side and shifting leaning her body made her dance in such away that was highly cute and humorous but also rather impressive.

Fissla chuckled softly "Yes the good captain dropped a lot of money for his friends to have fun. I'm looking forward to seeing how much profit I made once we close."

Tyler shrugged "Well he can afford it with the combat bonus he got today. But its good to see him relax he was really nervous about his units first real deployment."

Fissla nodded before shooting the Commander a curious glance "And you weren't?"

Tyler shrugged "Of course I was but I had faith in them and their training, still doesn't mean I didn't take a relived breath when the Operation went as well as it did" Tyler admitted before gesturing to the cigar "now I'm just going to sit back and let them have their moment to themselves."

Fissla nodded before glancing behind the Commander "Well looks like there's someone who's not willing to let you sit here by yourself."

Tyler looked over his shoulder to see the white form of Shal approaching him. Tyler took a moment to appreciate the form of the hound approaching him. Shal's white fur seemed to shin with the layer of mist clinging to her white fur giving her an almost ethereal glow as she gracefully approached him. After gazing at her form for longer than he would like to admit Tyler's focus went to her eyes and was quickly captivated with her yellow iris that reminded him of the sun and under the dark conditions of the nightclub and the pulsing lights her eyes seemed to glow like miniature suns as they locked eyes with Tyler's own. Quickly turning his body to greet the leader of the 77ths Hound pack while hopping she hadn't noticed him basically checking her out. "Shal, not going to enjoy the dance floor like you packmate?" Tyler asked as Shal sat on a bench meant for Hounds and vipers as seats.

" **I actually don't know how to dance since it's something hounds don't normally do. I must say though that I may have to ask Ruby how she came up with her technique"** Shal stated before looking to Fissla **"can I have a… Citrus Sunset?"** Shal asked after taking a moment to look over the list of custom drinks that was a holographic board behind the bar. Fissla nodded before mixing a series of colorful liquids and some lemon and lime before poring it into a bowl and sitting in front of the Hound who nodded in thanks before heading off to a different part of the bar to help two other customers.

Taking a few slurps of her drink Shal turned her head to Tyler before addressing him **"Commander I wanted to once again thankyou for allowing us on Charlee Company's mission. I hope we met your expectations."**

Tyler chuckled "It's just Tyler here Shal, and don't worry your pack did exceptionally. I've already approved the new turret for production so your packmates and yourself can have the choice of gear before missions."

Shal's tail gave a gentle wag at the new since she herself had been very impressed with the new weapons systems performance in the field. **"The Outcast pack thanks you for the addition Tyler, we will put it to good use."**

Tyler frowned "Also that whole outcast thing, can you change the name?"

Shal looked like Tyler physically struck her as her head swung around to face him and her eyes widened **"W-what?!"**

Tyler put a hand up in apology "Sorry if I offended you, I don't know if changing your name is taboo or anything. It's just that the name Outcast pack implies you and your pack are castaways or something, so I thought you'd like something more fitting."

Shal glanced down at the floor shamefully as her ears flattened giving Tyler the image of a kicked puppy **"Well in hound society we are castaway's so…"** she explained before trailing off.

"Yeah but not to us" Tyler stated causing Shal to look back up to him in interest. "Shal your home is now the 77th, I am never going to transfer you unless you ask for it. Myself and the men all view you and your pack as one of us, so having you and your packmates introduce yourselves or having others refer to you as something lesser or as unwanted is… well it pisses me off." Tyler admitted gazing up at the ceiling thoughtfully and missing the sight of Shal's eyes growing wider, her head rising to full height, her back straightening, and her tail beginning to wag back and forth again. "I suppose I'm just annoyed that others outside the 77th don't see how valuable you and your pack are and we also don't want you to see yourselves as that either. Not with how much we value you."

Shal's breath froze as she leaned forward toward the human before her as all her senses focused on the honest word coming from the male sitting in front of her as Tyler continued. "So, I just wanted to know if you wanted to change the name for us to address your pack by. I know we won't be able change the name other ADVENT units under the elder's banner call you by but"

" **Fuck the Elders"** Shal interrupted with a forceful tone.

Tyler was now the one to reel back as if struck "I-I'm sorry, what?"

Shal leaned her head forward to where her nose was only six or seven inches away from Tyler's face **"Tyler, I do not care what the Elder's or anyone else under ADVENT calls me and my pack. It was not them that took us in when everyone else treated them like scum. It was not them that trusted them with their own lives on the battlefield. It was not them who fought beside them as equals at Tokyo and in LA. It was not them who created new machines and armor to help my pack fight and defend themselves from our enemies. It was you, you and the Dragoons."** Shal stated with emphasis before he projected voice softened to a point where it was almost a soothing whisper. **"You saw value in us where everyone else saw nothing so as far as I'm concerned, your opinion and those of the 77** **th** **are the only ones that matter. If you wish us to be named something fitting our place amongst you then yes, we most certainly shale name ourselves to something deserving of the respect you have shown us."**

The two sat there in silence gazing into the other eyes marveling as Tyler for his part had never quite scene the level of absolute certainty and conviction in Shal's gaze before. Eventually a cough broke the two apart. "Should I get you two a private room?" Fissla asked amused at the two's intimate position.

Tyler coughed "N-no, no that will be fine Fissla." Making the Viper nod before informing them that the club would be closing shortly. Down below the crowd was also thinning out as people left for home and the DJ began to wind things up.

Shal shook herself **"A-anyway, I will get back to you when we decide on a new name to call ourselves Tyler."**

Tyler nodded as the two stood and Shal quickly finished her drink. "Try and get it to me before the tournament so I can have the announcer introduce you correctly" Tyler advised.

Shal nodded her head before she jerked up to look at him again nearly spitting out her drink. **"What?!"**

Tyler looked at her in amusement "Sorry I guess it slipped my mind till now, but I've decided to have your pack represent the 77th HVG in the tournament on Titan in two months so make sure you have your new name ready by then." Shal just looked up at him stunned but her tail couldn't have been waging faster.

: 25 minutes later, Tyler's Office:

Tyler sighed as he walked into his office and locked the door behind them. Ignoring the rooms occupants for now Tyler went over toward his desk before sitting down and pressing button just under the desks rim. Soon the lights dimmed, and the windows became opaque before a series of projectors that were built into his desk powered up and after he connected his PDA to the desk via a USB cable three screens pooped up displaying various information and reports. Glancing over the information shortly he finally looked up and addressed the other individuals in the room.

"Glitch is the room secured?" he asked and after seeing the green codex nod in the affirm he steepled his fingers together and leaned forward. "Price, Glitch, Ethera, Dr. Hissa, and Ms. Fall thankyou all for coming to this meeting. As per usual none of what we discuss here may be spoken or mentioned in any format outside this room. Since its Dr, Hissa and Ms. Cinder's first times attending this meeting would you please give them the introduction of this groups purpose."

Price nodded and faced the two new members who were standing along the right wall of the office looking around the assembled group in curiosity. The two of them had proved themselves to be trustworthy and Tyler believed that they held the 77th HVG in higher regard than ADVENT or the Ethereals so he trusted them to not betray the group, having also vetted their entire backgrounds also helped wash away his fears. "Welcome Ms. Fall and Dr. Hissa to the 77th HVG's Black Board meeting. Here we discuss and plan the developments surrounding the 77th HVG and its affiliate units and branches along with organize and plan black operations and secret projects. As new members of this group you must now hold yourselves to the highest forms of secrecy regarding anything spoken during this meeting and of this groups existence and its members. I forewarn you now that some material discussed here may not adhere or even go against the ADVENT organization. The goal of this group is the safety and development of the 77th HVG and its affiliates and the safety of the peoples of Earth against **all** threats." Price stated emphasizing the all to give the two an idea that ADVENT and maybe even the Ethereals may not be on their friendly or allied lists. "Do you have any questions before I begin introductions?"

For their part both Cinder and Hissa hesitantly shook their heads as they their nerves started to act up at the seriousness of the meeting they were attending. Price nodded before continuing "Very well I'll begin with myself, you can call me Captain Price. I lead oversee all the 77th HVG's Black Operations units and safehouses. I report only to Commander Harrington and usually operate off site so the only times you will see me are during these meetings." Price said before nodding to Glitch.

The green Codex regarded the two of them for a moment before continuing "Good evening Cinder Fall and Dr. Hissa I am Glitch. I oversee and safeguard critical 77th HVG systems from hacking as well as monitoring 77th facilities for sabotage or tampering" the codex introduced before motioning to the purple apparently female codex.

The purple codex sighed before rolling her shoulders as she languished in on of the offices chairs. "My name is Ethera, I'm the commanders go to girl for secure communications between him and price as well as the 77ths Cyber Warfare specialist. I'm responsible for hacking into the systems of opposing forces as well as monitoring the psionic network for information gathering. I'm rather busy so you also won't see me around to much" the codex explained before looking at Tyler almost seductively "But I can always make time for you Commander."

Tyler for his part sighed before addressing the room. "Now that introductions are out of the way lets get down to business." Tyler quickly swiped the holographic images over his desk making on fly up into the center of the room showing a map of the world with ten red dots pining around it. I'll begin with the additional units that the I've been ordered to make by ADVENT high command."

Around the map various pages began springing up before one pooped up that seemed to show an emblem. The emblem was a white mask with thin eyebrows a slight smile, a goatee, and blush on the cheeks, below the emblem was a quote which read 'Man is least himself when he talks in his own. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth.' "The first unit is the 79th HVG Anonymous Mask, they are cyber warfare specialists that attempted to hack our own servers but were thwarted by Glitch and Ethera. We've now coerced them into working for us so long as I don't let Ethera go after them. I don't know what you did to them before Ethera, but they are outright scared of you." Tyler said receiving a giggle from Ethera that sent a chill up the spines of the rooms occupants. "Anyway, the unit operates all over the world in small cells or as individuals and help monitor ADVENT networks by quickly hacking servers before leaving. Since they are helping us keep an eye on ADVENT activity especially regarding the Specials their existence will be kept hidden from the Ethereals and ADVENT in general. Their leader is a hacker going by the alias Boon Vergas and their overall manpower is only around twenty or so operatives, but they are at least operational as of last week."

"How would we communicate with them if they remain so elusive and un-centralized?" Cinder asked.

"Ethera is our go between and since the entire unit is a Cyber warfare unit they fall under her branch of the 77ths Black operations anyway" Tyler replied receiving a resigned nod from Cinder who likely wished to have access to such a group. Tyler swiped his PDA and another insignia appeared showing a blackjack club underneath was written the slogan We Watch Unseen. "The next unit is the 80th HVG Blackjacks, the unit is a counter terrorism unit primarily responsible for monitoring areas with suspected resistance cells and eliminating them by reporting their location and activities to the local ADVENT garrison or by direct action. However, their combat capabilities are limited so they are primarily a monitoring unit. They operate in Europe and only have a force of twenty operators and ten handlers. Their commanding officer is Samantha Gree" Tyler reported before a picture of a tall African American woman appeared next to the unit emblem. The woman had red hair and green eyes that held a wisdom and wariness in them that Cinder suspected was from someone who had seen and done a lot of work under a lot of stress. "Samantha and many of her group were ex-police and private investigators with Samantha's father being former FBI. This group will report directly to you Cinder if the cell they encounter is involved in anything the local garrison can't handle." Cinder nodded before Tyler reached into his desk and pulled up a PDA much like his own and gesturing for her to take it. Stepping forward she retrieved the PDA before opening it and seeing the contact information for the 80th.

"That PDA is monitored by Glitch which should protect it from hacking, but I would still upload your fingerprint, and retinal scans along with a password on the security systems just to be safe." Tyler explained before returning to the briefing "Anyway the 80th is also operational as of last week so we can expect to have information begin trickling in soon. The next unit is the 81st HVG Sentinels." Here another logo appeared displaying a grey night standing at attention with sword and shield, behind him was the ADVENT symbol and below the image was the unit slogan Always Vigilant. "The Sentinels are based in Hong Kong China and specialize in VIP escort. Their commanding officer Lieutenant Fa Mulan who commands about 30 troopers their operations are however limited for now to the Hong Kong area as their creation was a direct response to increased attacks in the area. They will be operational within the week."

Tyler swiped again, and a new unit logo appeared which showed a group of three black rats running in formation beneath the emblem was the slogan 'Hard to Spot, Harder to Kill'. "The next unit is one I'm especially excited for as I see them getting a lot of work in the future. May I introduce the 82nd HVG known as The Plague Rats a dedicated air unit." At the questioning looks the other occupants of the room gave him Tyler swiped his PDA and the image of an aircraft appeared in the room. "This is the new aircraft created by our engineers. The premise was from very rudimentary schematics taken from the base of old XCOM by Prices special forces. The designs were early and made by someone who was obviously brilliant but didn't know many aspects of alien technology at the time the drew up the plans. Our engineers went over it and perfected it before altering it to suit our needs. The original was design was names the Firestorm, but our new version is called the Wyvern. It's a bomber/fighter able to provide close air support and interception if necessary they are faster than our gunships and even are certified for deployment to space if need be. We are using them as patrol aircraft and the four units we have made are in the hands of the Plague Rats. The rest of the Plague Rats arsenal is four Viking gunships and four Valkyrie transports our new improved transport aircraft. The Plague Rats oversee protecting the northern coast of Australia and arrange transportation of VIP's to the Nest. They will be taking over the duty of monitoring air traffic in our airspace allowing our own air forces to concentrate on troop transport and emergency combat sorties. They are commanded by Klein Green" Tyler stated before an image of a twenty-five-year-old man. "In terms of personnel the 82nd has fifteen combat ready pilots, five medical officers, five technicians, ten mechanics, fifteen strike troops that are used as base security and as a strike force if the need arises. They still need more materials, but they are currently almost finished retrofitting a pair of old oil rigs as their airbase. We expect them to become operational in another two to three weeks and at full strength in a fourth."

There was an excited atmosphere in the room as all within knew that the 77ths air wing was suffering heavily from over work having patrols duty, transportation duty, and monitoring and that was before you factor in the combat operations. Tyler let the news settle before going over his data pad "The 83rd Myrmidon Unit, the 85th Shadow Deep, and the 86th Winter Wolves are all still in training and organization, but I suspect that they should be almost or at minimal acceptable level of combat readiness to become operational in a month, so I'll go over them at the next meeting. Currently there are only two other units that are currently operational those being the 84th and 87th HVG." Tyler explained before swiping his PDA and revealing the image profile of a black Zischagge helmet on the red banner with a yellow cross behind the helmet were crossed rapier with flintlock pistol. Beneath what was obviously the unit emblem was their slogan 'hakkaa päälle'. Guessing at their question Tyler supplied them with a translation "It means cut them down. Anyway the 84th HVG are known as 'The Hakkapeliitta' and are designated as a light armored assault unit based in Sweden that use modified Cobra 4WD's to find and assault resistance forces in the wilderness. They are led by Captain Ivar Albertsson and have around forty troopers who also maintain their own vehicles. Currently their helping Vissta suppress a few resistance cells in Denmark."

Tyler swiped his PDA and the last unit's emblem came up revealing two light blue otters in a yang/yang sort of arrangement in a black circle with bottom right to top left white stripes. Beneath the emblem was the slogan 'Through tenacity, we are victorious. Through victory, the innocent are spared.' "The 87th HVG the Moonlight Otters are Naval Warfare Specialists based in New Zealand. Their tasked with assaulting and eliminating insurgent basses around the islands and coastline as well as patrol the area for smuggling. They use a variety of vehicles including three dropships, two new modified Mark V SOC boats we're calling the Leviathans and 6 Crocodile Assault boats which are basically armored Zodiacs" Tyler explained. "The group has about 36 personnel and is led by Captain Sky Taylor." Tyler pulled up a picture of the young officer and the group was met with the picture of a young woman with long sky-blue hair under a white beanie, she was slightly below average height and quite pale but had a small hesitant smile and emerald eyes that still had a joyful twinkle to them. "Sky is still relatively young and a freshly promoted officer, but she is a genius when it comes to navel warfare and engineering which is why the 87th is also a Navel R&D unit. The unit has already begun operations but won't be at full strength for another week or two." Tyler finished before looking over to price "Tell us about the progress of your unit Price."

As Price took a moment to square his shoulders and collected his thoughts the others waited in interest to hear about the most clandestine branch of the 77th, Cinder and Hissa were especially keen on finding out the activities of this branch since its sheer existence put their lives in jeopardy if the Elders or ADVENT ever found out about it. "The activities of our black operations forces have been divided into two different categories. The first being development of safehouses, contacts, operatives, and technology. In these areas my forces have finished completion of our twelfth safehouse allowing us limited influence in South America along with out previous safehouses in Australia, Asia, North America, and Africa. Our development of reliable contacts is progressing well utilizing old pre-war veterans and anti-ADVENT sympathizers. These sympathizers don't know we're 77th but instead they believe us to be a well-equipped resistance cell utilizing ADVENT tech. In that regard we have been approached by members of the Black Market to sell them materials in exchange for information. I would recommend utilizing them as potential contacts so far as the materials we give them are limited" Price relayed before looking to Tyler for permission to go ahead with the exchange.

Tyler seemed to mull over the possibilities and nodded in approval "It sounds like a good deal, we can use their global information networks to assist our own and even use them to disclose information if need be. Proceed with the exchange Price but for now stick with some alloy's and non-critical materials."

Price nodded before continuing his report "Unfortunately we have expended our available recruitment pool and don't have access to any highly trained people we can trust not to divulge our secrets to either ADVENT, XCOM, or other factions and groups. If you want us to get more people, you'll have to find them somewhere else other than old spec-ops veterans. Finally, as for technology I'm afraid that while we have found a few locations for a black site R&D facility we don't have the materials to build it or the staff to man it. I would highly suggest hiring a chief scientist that's familiar with ADVENT tech that we can trust to run the facility. Once we have that I can find enough intelligent minds to assist in the research and some discreet people to build the facility itself."

Tyler nodded "I'll keep an eye out while on Titan, maybe I'll find someone that fits the bill at the technology expo but don't expect much."

Price shrugged "All I can ask really, as for the second category of our operations is the deployment and information gathering aspects. In this area we haven't deployed much since Tokyo and we'll hopefully keep it that way for awhile until our information gathering comes up with something. To that end our contacts have discovered two interesting things. The first of which is the deployment of a few companies of Specials into the forbidden zones intermittently every month or two. Normally this wouldn't be that important but sometimes when they return it appears that they have taken casualties or have been in combat. I would recommend deploying one of my teams to recon one of the forbidden zones in former Russia that has received more attention by the Specials."

The occupants in the room shifted nervously, everyone knew about the forbidden zones as isolated areas damaged during the initial battles between the Elder's forces and the old government's military. The area was highly contaminated with radiation both nuclear and otherwise so access to them was strictly restricted to Specials only. The indications that there was something in those areas actively fighting the Specials forces was deeply concerning. Tyler nodded "Very well but schedule it after the Specials leave the area, I don't want them hindering the recon unit. Also tell your operatives to be extra vigilant and pull out if things look to dangerous" he ordered.

Price nodded again before continuing "The second thing our informants relayed was the existence of a group of ADVENT defectors calling themselves the Skirmishers. Their leader is someone going by the name Betos and it seems they are rather skilled since the Specials have been hunting them with little to no success."

Tyler rose a brow in interest "Any idea why they defected or where from?"

Price shook his head "No idea why they defected but from what we gathered they're made up of defectors from multiple different units. The only thing unique about them was that they all were significantly better soldiers that normal ADVENT troopers."

Tyler nodded in thought "Very well try and get more information on them and even arrange a meeting with a representative under the cover of a materials exchange. Make learning about them our priority intelligence mission" Tyler instructed before turning his attention to Glitch and Ethera. Have their been any developments regarding our cyber security and monitoring?"

When both reported that there were no new updates or developments Tyler adjusted his attention to Cinder and Dr. Hissa "Very well then I suppose its time to give the two of you your assignments and duties regarding our group. Dr. Hissa I know your already experimenting with possible S-class gen-mods for me but I also want you to look at possible gene-mods for all ADVENT species. I hope to increase all our combat capable forces including Shal's pack and any Viper's from our community that may join up. Don't be afraid of Elder or ADVENT limitations either research whatever you need to" Hissa nodded looking excited about the potential finding of her coming project. "Cinder I want you to arrange for a new construction area within the base behind the memorial hall and in the old upper engine block. The area behind the mural was well be labeled our archive room and the area in the upper engine block will be our 'official' black ops center. In parallel with this I want you to start preparing a roster for our official black ops designated Black Dragons and be sure to include Ark, Nikos, and Belladonna to the unit with yourself as head."

Cinder nodded before shooting an inquisitive look in Prices direction "What would be the point sir?"

"If ADVENT high command and the Elders are trying to find out what your group is doing than they won't be suspecting Prices group. It will also allow me the excuses of using significantly more powerful gene-mods for your group than what would normally be allowed for regular troopers" Tyler explained to Cinder before she nodded in understanding. "Good, Price to avoid confusion I'll be referring to your operations as our White Ops branch. Now with that all finished I'll leave you to your assignments, our next meeting will be next month three calendar days after this one. Just before I head off to the tournament on Titan. I'll be taking Shal's pack with me as well as Cinder and her team, understood?" When the other rooms occupants nodded Tyler continued "Very good, your all dismissed and may fortune smile upon you endeavors."

 **Aaaaannnndddd Chapter! I know that for many of you this chapter may have been boring but its intended as filler before the next chapter which is the tournament on Titan. I expect that the next two chapters will be on Titan before we get into more familiar territory. Also thankyou to all those who sent in your own ideas for ADVENT units and if you didn't see yours here don't worry I will eventually work them in just not all at once. For those of you that wanted to make your own unit I'm afraid that at least for now I won't be accepting anymore submissions until I finish introducing all the ones from this first wave.**

 **Any way until next time re-**

 **Edith:** Waaaiiittt!

 **Vantage: Edith! What are you doing here I was about to end the chapter.**

 **Edith:** Oh, no you don't! I haven't had an information session with the reader in forever and you are not stopping me no matter how eager you are to get this chapter out.

 **Vantage: FINE! Just please make it quick.**

 **Edith:** No problem it's a quick lesson on the different levels of Gene-modification **.**

 **Vantage: Oh, ok that's not too bad, go ahead then.**

 **Edith:** Ahem! Hello again readers Its good to speak with you all again. Today as I mentioned to Vantage, I would like to talk about the different levels of gene-modification and to help me with this I've brought with me a special guest!

 **Hissa:** Hello readers! It's a pleasure to meet you all and to be here today to tell you all about the amazing and rapidly changing world of gene-modification.

 **Edith:** Hissa dear what happened to your adorable accent?

 **Hissa:** Oh, you mean thisss one? Well I've been working on it to where it'sss a lot better. Why did you like my voice more when I had it?

 **Edith:** How about we let the readers decide in the reviews later. For now, we have a lesson to do! Now readers the first thing you should now about gene-modification is that all gene-mods are assigned to different classifications from E-class to S-class.

 **Hissa:** Correct Edith! The classification of a genetic modification is determined by two factors how drastic the gene-modification is and the potential risk to the recipient. How drastic the mod is determined by how invasive the procedure is and the difficulty of the procedure. For instance, an E-class gene-mod would be something as simple as curing a genetic malfunction like cancer or a disorder. To cure such issues we simply need to compare the genetic makeup to what would be present in a healthy living being of the same species and find were the irregularity occurred before changing it to match the heathy specimens. However, a more invasive procedure would be something like outright changing the genetic makeup to accept additional organs or add new bodily functions that had previously not existed in that species before.

 **Edith:** Yep! Now ADVENT's Classification system splits gene-mods up to E-class, D-class, C-class, B-class, A-class, and S-class. E-class are gene-mods that are the least invasive and are very easy to do with regular citizens being able to undergo them rather easily. D-class gene-mods are slightly more invasive and are usually only given to individuals with missing limbs or organs but civilians can still be given them if they receive the approval of the head of the gene-clinic. C-class mods and above are all restricted to military use however.

 **Hissa:** Correct C-class mods use the best genetic markers of a species and combine them to bring the subject to the absolute peak of their species physical potential. These mods are given to ADVENT soldiers along with a select few of the next class. B-class mods are where we start introducing foreign genetic material into the subject as adapt its body to accept them. While regular troopers receive some very specific ones the larger number of B-class mods and the more powerful ones are reserved to troopers that perform well or are Non-commissioned officers. A-Class genetic modifications is rather invasive and can border what many would call super human. These mods are usually reserved to high ranking officers and soldiers of the specials. Currently Commander Harrington and the Captains of the 77th have all received this level of genetic modification.

 **Edith:** I see and what about S-class.

 **Hissa:** S-class genetic modification is highly restricted to individuals of the Commander rank or officers in the specials. Tyler has yet to receive his mods because he wants me to really push the boundary of S class and into the near mythical SS-class. S class gene mods usually involve replacing or altering whole sets of organs and sometimes creating new body functions that no previous ADVENT species has.

 **Edith:** What about the SS-class gene-modifications you mentioned?

 **Hissa:** Well those are more theoretical as there are one or two S-class genetic modifications rumored to be so much more powerful than the others that they should be given a higher rank. They are highly classified however and even I don't have access to exactly what they do or how to do them.

 **Edith:** Well thank you for helping the lesson Hissa but I think we should let vantage post the chapter now.

 **Hissa:** Your right he looks like he's about to burst with anxiety

 **Vantage:** GET ON WITH IT!

 **Edith & Hissa:** Hope to see you all again at the next lesion!

 **Vantage:** Finally, well as I was saying, make sure to stay frosty and don't forget to review!


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